Industrial Trust Building

The Industrial Trust Building, completed in 1928, is one of Providence’s most visible landmarks. Not only is it the tallest building in Providence, at a height of 420 feet above the street level, but at night it punctuates the city’s skyline with its glowing green lantern, and dramatically illuminated facade. In 1925 the Industrial Trust Company, a rapidly growing regional bank eager to exhibit its success, commissioned the New York firm of Walker and Gillette and local architect George Frederick Hall to build a skyscraper. The Providence based bank opened in its first location in 1887 with a capital of $500,000, and by 1920’s the Industrial Trust Company had branches all over the state, with $150 million in assets. Encouraged by a thriving economy, the bank, led by President Florriman M. Howe and the Chairman of the Board, Samuel M. Nicholson wanted a modern building, which would be a symbol of past achievement, as well as a visible investment in the future. Additionally, it would allow the Providence to keep up with other cosmopolitan cities in the nation. At its completion the Industrial Trust building was the tallest in New England.

Over last seventy five years, the building has survived changing conditions and economic climates. In 1950 the great eagles’ heads and wings were removed and replaced by additional lightening rods. An entire bird had fallen from the building in 1930 as the result of a severe thunder storm. In the following years bits of carved feathers had fallen on the building itself causing considerable roof damage. In 1973, during the energy crisis the signature green lantern, which had been turned on every night since 1928, was shut off to conserve fuel.

More recently the Industrial Trust Building influenced the design of the post-modern Providence Place Mall. The two turrets on the mall’s structure which resemble scaled down versions of the Industrial Trust’s tower.