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Stringcourse A Providence Paper On What Buildings Used To Be

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Step 2 of five

New work in the old shell

The use inside has changed completely and the building has not. The most common step in this city and the one that rewards a slow walk past the outside.

The two fronts at this step

  1. Step 2 of 5, new work in the old shellA Bank That Serves DinnerBuilt to look permanent and to be difficult to get into. Both of those are expensive to undo, which is why so many small banks end up as dining rooms rather than as demolition.
  2. Step 2 of 5, new work in the old shellA Mill Full of StudiosThe building has not changed and everything inside it has. This is the commonest step in this state by a wide margin and the one most people walk past without reading.

The five steps

  1. Step 1 of 5Still doing the first jobPut up for one purpose and still at it, which in a city that rebuilds itself this often is rarer than it sounds and worth going to look at while it lasts.
  2. Step 2 of 5New work in the old shellThe use inside has changed completely and the building has not. The most common step in this city and the one that rewards a slow walk past the outside.
  3. Step 3 of 5Pieces kept inside something newThe building came down and parts of it did not: a front, a stair, a run of iron columns, held inside whatever replaced it.
  4. Step 4 of 5The shape left in the groundNothing stands. The outline is still legible in a curb line, a change of paving, a wall that stops where a building used to start.
  5. Step 5 of 5Nothing left but the nameThe last step. No fabric at all, and a name still in use for a corner, a stop or a block, attached now to something that has no connection to it.