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The stately Westminster Arcade was built in 1828, and this landmark building has been a part of Providence ever since. Now known as the Arcade Providence, it is the oldest surviving shopping mall in the United States, and it was recognized from the beginning as an innovative and beautiful structure. It has survived near-demolition, fires, hurricanes, consumer trends, city planners and commercial developers. Within its walls are fascinating stories of the people who made their livelihood between its double façades. Through archival records, interviews and personal accounts, author Janet Mansfield Soares reveals the challenges faced by its tenants from its beginnings as a competitor to Cheapside to its many transformations that mirror Providence's own volatile history.
A propos de l'auteur
Janet Mansfield Soares, a native Rhode Islander, has always been interested in the relationship of buildings and the people within them. She holds a doctorate in interdisciplinary arts from Columbia University and is the author of
Louis Horst: Musician in a Dancer's World (Duke University Press, 1994) and
Martha Hill and the Making of American Dance (Wesleyan University Press, 2009). Throughout her career, she has published many articles on the creative and visual arts while serving on the faculties of the Juilliard School and Barnard College, Columbia University, from which she is now Professor Emerita.
