THE TEAM
William D. Warner
Project Director
William "Bill" Warner can be credited for physically reshaping the city of Providence.
Warner was a recent graduate of Harvard University's Graduate School of Design when he was selected to be the project director of the College Hill Study. The project was his first major commission in Providence, but certainly not his last.
Warner is credited, along with his fellow RISD professor Friedrich St. Florian, of the concept to reactivate the Moshassuck, Woonasquatucket, and Providence rivers, and create Waterplace Park. Born out on a paper napkin in the Blue Point Oyster Bar on South Main Street in 1981, Warner’s vision would change the relationship of Providence to its rivers. The project earned him the Presidential Design Achievement Award from Bill Clinton in 1997.
He was also responsible for the I-Way Bridge across the Providence River, and was the chief designer of the I-195 relocation project at the time of his death in 2012.
A resident of College Hill himself, Warner’s designs for infill on College Hill are heavily influenced by his time at Harvard under Bauhaus master Walter Gropius. They are thoroughly modern, and provide contrast to the surrounding historic fabric of College Hill. In Panel 3, drafted by project architect Allen Day, a large glass apartment tower sits next to 30 Benefit Street, an 2 1/2—story Florentine-inspired brick and brownstone dwelling. The intent was not to create facsimiles of historic homes, but to show how they could be an asset in the future of College Hill and Providence as a whole.
Warner lived on College Hill during and after the completion of the College Hill Study, eventually locating his studio in the carriage house of 30 Benefit, visible in several of the panels on display.
College Hill Project Staff
Frank H. Malley
Director of the Plan Commission
William D. Warner
Project Director
Allen Day
Draftsman
Mrs. George E. (Antoinette)Downing
Historian
Miss Marjorie Olson
Draftsman
Gerald Cross
Researcher
James Skerritt
Researcher
Martin Adler
Researcher
Mrs. Gilbert W. (Bonnie) Warren
Researcher
Miss Edith D’lorio
Researcher
Marjorie Olson
Draftsman
Marjorie, or "Margie" Olson was a consultant for the College Hill Study. Her work as a draftsman includes panels 1 and 5, and is distinct in its detail.
Allen Day
Draftsman
Allen Day worked as a consultant for the Providence Plan Commission at the time of the College Hill Study. His work as a draftsman includes panels 3, 8, and 9.
He later went on to be the head engineer of Rhode Island state airports from 1962 to 1984.
Antoinette Downing
Historian
The name of Antoinette Downing is synonymous with historical preservation in Rhode Island. During her nearly 100 year lifespan, Antoinette made an enormous impact on the city of Providence, beginning with books and papers detailing the rich architectural history of Providence and Newport. She worked closely with the Providence Preservation Society upon its formation in 1956 to return Providence to its prior splendor and halt the destruction of the blighted buildings on the East Side. She helped research, write, and obtain the federal funding for the highly influential report College Hill: A Demonstration Study of Historic Area Renewal, which shifted the way the entire country looked at historic preservation. When the Rhode Island Historic Preservation Commission was founded in 1968, Antoinette was the obvious choice to lead the commission as chairwoman, a position she held for nearly thirty years.