The Arcade
National Historic Landmark · Providence, Rhode Island
A Greek Revival building of 1828 running through the block between Westminster and Weybosset Streets in downtown Providence, with granite colonnades at both ends and three tiers of shopfronts around a skylit hall. It is the first enclosed shopping mall in the United States — the form was invented here, and every mall since is downstream of it. Nearly demolished and long half-empty, it reopened in October 2013 with micro-apartments on the upper floors and small independent shops and food at ground level, which is why it is a working building rather than a preserved one.
130 Westminster Street, Providence, Rhode Island, 02903, United States
FREE, with no ticket — it is a public building containing independent shops and food traders, so the hall is effectively open when the traders are, broadly daytime into the evening with reduced Sunday and Monday trading. ⚠ THE UPPER TWO FLOORS ARE PRIVATE MICRO-APARTMENTS AND ARE NOT OPEN TO VISITORS; the ground-floor hall is the whole of the public visit and it takes ten to twenty minutes. ⚠ TENANCIES TURN OVER AND UNITS ARE SOMETIMES VACANT — check a specific shop or food trader is still operating before making a trip for it. There is no interpretation in the building: no panels, no desk and no guide, so read about it beforehand. No dedicated parking; use the downtown paid garages.