The Arcade

This is where it all began. The Arcade is the country’s oldest indoor shopping mall. Built entirely of granite in 1828 (when Providence’s population numbered only 14,000), it was the first commercial venture established on the west side of the Providence River.

The 216-foot structure, which fronts on both Westminster and Weybosset Streets, was originally owned by two separate groups whose architects argued over the building’s design. This resulted in a structure with mismatched entrances: The Weybosset Street entrance is topped off by a stepped parapet, while the Westminster Street side is topped by a pediment. The Arcade’s twelve massive 21-foot granite columns, which were quarried in Johnston and dragged to the construction site by a team of 30 oxen, were the largest monolithic columns in the country at the time, weighing in at 13 tons a piece. The total cost of the building was $145,000 ($2,128,100 in today’s money - cheap!).

The building was once named by the Metropolitan Museum of Art as one of the finest commercial buildings in the history of American architecture, and it has also been designated a National Historic Landmark. In addition to its impressive exterior, it boasts a huge glass skylight, supported by wooden beams, that runs the length of the building and floods the open area between the three floors with natural light. Shops on the second and third levels are connected by long, open balconies overlooking the ground-floor. The building has survived a fire, three hurricanes, the threat of demolition, and a $3 million refurbishment.

Incidentally, Cleveland, Ohio’s Old Arcade (1894), Seattle, Washington’s Northgate Mall (1950), Appleton, Wisconsin’s Valley Fair shopping mall (1954), and Edina, Minnesota’s Southdale Center (1958) all claim to be the country’s oldest/first indoor/enclosed shopping mall. Losers.