RGB designed the $12 million historic rehabilitation and re-use of a 1939 art-deco apartment building.  The 4-story, 34 unit condominium building features 1,2, and 3 bedroom units with kitchen and dining/living areas ranging from 800 SF to 1,600 SF.  RGB also provided extensive construction management services.

RI Historic Preservation Society 2008 Historic Preservation Award

Providence’s City Hall is one of the City’s most significant institutional buildings.  Originally constructed in 1878, RGB undertook a two-phase restoration of this urban landmark.

Phase I consisted of a feasibility study, a report on fire safety conditions, recommended improvements and an interior scheme for conference areas.  Phase II included the design of exterior renovations to the roof and windows.

This architecturally significant inn, cozened up to Narragansett Bay in the shoreline community of Watch Hill was in need of restoration and modernization to make it code compliant and economically competitive within New England’s premier inns and restaurants.

RGB’s award winning design took an attractive, yet worn and dated structure, and turned it into the beautiful classic architectural gem represented in the accompanying photographs. Beautifully detailed ramps and stairs create a strong plinth from which the delicately detailed porches and railings can shine, capped by historic rooflines and dormers.

The Hoppin House stands today as one of the great mansions on Benefit Street, and is recognized as an important part of the largest historic residential district in the United States.
     
Built in 1853, the three-story structure holds the honor of being considered by many preservationists to be the most architecturally distinctive house in Providence.
     
Designed in the Italianate style, the building had tremendous appeal to the local architectural firm Cull and Robinson Architects which first occupied the space in 1951.  This firm was the forerunner to RGB.
    
 In 1982 RGB undertook a museum-quality restoration of the entire mansion and its adjoining two-story carriage house.  Period details were reclaimed  by using historically correct methods and materials.                        

RGB, serving as both architect and construction manager, completed the project over a two-year period and occupied the building until moving to larger offices in 1988.

Responding to the client’s directive to create a ‘spa like environment’ that is soft, comfortable and inviting and eschews any clinical feel, RGB designed richly textured interiors of warm and earthy tones, with upscale lighting materials and furnishings.

The entrance is a modernist lantern beaconing patients across the vast turn of the century mill complex to its exquisitely detailed aluminum and glass façade, anchored to the industrial scaled offices by strong asymmetric brick volumes. Frameless glass corners allow the delicate metal window frames to appear floating in front of the solid steel support columns.

The University of Rhode Island commissioned RGB to provide historic restoration design services for its signature Georgian Revival building.
     
The “Green Hall Gateway” restoration project required the skills of a design team that could interpret and respect the past, while responding to the needs of the future.

This $5.2 million included interior renovations to centralize high-technology enrollment services center. integrate the admissions, bursar, registrar and financial aid departments into a retail/banking layout, as well as the restoration of the President’s office and the addition of the Provost’s office.

Winner of Masonry Construction Magazines - “Best Historic Restoration 2004”

In collaboration with Boston-based Bruner/Cott, RGB provided historic preservation and restoration services of three connecting 19th century red-brick mill buildings, and former manufacturing plant and headquarters of Brown and Sharpe, into 278,000 sf of luxury apartments.

The Promenade offers 32 studio, 119 one-bedroom and 69 two-bedroom luxury units, with 65 different unit types, a large fitness center, indoor pool, events room, media room, laundry facilities, business center, and a landscaped courtyard with a Japanese water garden, as well as a four-level, 400-car parking garage.

The award winning project, completed in 2005 for a total construction cost of $40 million, is one of the largest historic preservation projects ever undertaken in the city of Providence.

RI Historic Preservation Society 2006 Historic Preservation Award

RGB continues to provide historic restoration and renovation for this 25-acre manufacturing mill complex built in 1870.  The complex is home to  approximately 60 offices, including RIDEM, Neighborhood Health Plans of Rhode Island, Sullivan and Company, Center for OBGYN, as well as RGB’s main office. In 2005 The Promenade, 220 luxury apartments in three of the complexes’ buildings, became the largest single renovation project to date. The Center continues to expand with proposed future renovations to the last remaining vacant building. In addition to a master plan, RGB has provided architectural, engineering,  interior  and lighting design services for numerous projects totaling approximately $80 million within The Center.  Over 1 million SF of major renovation and window replacement projects submitted through the RI Historic Commission and the Federal Tax Credit Program.

RGB was retained to design, develop plans, construction documents, and bid specifications to restore three existing former military buildings at Fort Wetherill State Park in Jamestown, RI, to create an Aquatic Resource Center.  These restored facilities accommodate the consolidation of the Marine Fisheries Section of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management’s (RIDEM) Division of Fish and Wildlife.   
 
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, RGB created a detailed restoration plan which maximized the existing building space without destroying the historical, cultural or military significance of the site, or the exterior and interior features of the buildings.

 The $4.2 million project was completed in 2002 and includes a wetlab capable of circulating 200 gallons of seawater per minute, office space, research laboratories, improved public access to the waterfront,and a foot trail connecting the parcel to the park.

Originally built in 1922, the William Hall Library represents one of several restoration commissions RGB has received that required a sensitive design solution within the parameters set forth by the National Register of Historic Places.

RGB provided master planning services with a museum-quality restoration including full code compliance alterations.  A new handicap accessible entrance and elevator in addition to system upgrades that accommodate growing technological capabilities were successfully completed.

The Killingly Public Library is an excellent example of the value of reusing an existing community resource.  Housed in a former A&P market, the new library now offers the Town of Killingly an enjoyable environment in which to access an 80,000 volume collection.

The 14,000 SF renovations and 6,000 SF addtions included periodicals and reading areas, a children’s library and program room, community program room with separate access, and catering kitchen facilities for after hours use.

The Providence Public Library’s Main Branch, originally constructed in 1919, is a stunning example of Eclectic Italianate Revival design.

Main branch renovations included comprehensive redesign of the bookstacks, seating and service areas, and a new central stair was inserted into the grand hall.  RGB also updated all safety codes, and ADA guidelines were met, as well as technology upgrades and building systems improvements.  

RGB designed an adaptive reuse of an abandoned, urban bank building resulting in a 17,000 volume library within a 3,800 SF plan known as the Olneyville branch.  In addition to the children’s room at the main branch.

Built on the historic campus of Brown University, Robinson Hall was the University’s first library building in 1878. Designed by a team of architects and designers that included the Librarian of Congress, its panoptic plan was avant-garde for its time.

This sensitive historic renovation of a building listed on the National Register of Historic Places encompassed the rehabilitation of two wings with code upgrades and period detailing, the construction of two new entrances, complete restoration of the exterior and the incorporation of new faculty and graduate student offices.

“I would not hesitate to recommend RGB, especially for projects involving renovation or restoration of an existing building,” - Carol Wooten, Former Director, Planning and Construction, Brown University.

Adaptively re-using a historic mill building in the heart of Woonsocket’s Market Square, the Museum of Work and Culture strives, as does the Tate Modern in London, to re-invigorate its surroundings, as well as the neighboring buildings.

Designed in conjunction with Christopher Chadborne and Associates, the museum plays a vibrant role in establishing the First Woonsocket Rubber Company building within the broader context of the Rhode Island Historical Society.

The museum works in concert with the renovated Stadium Theater, another RGB project, to establish Main Street as the cultural center for the northern Rhode Island region.

Built in two phases (1924 and 1932), the Licht Judicial Complex manages to blend its 16 stories very effectively among the two- and three-story Colonial and Victorian structures on Providence’s historic east side.
    
Because the courthouse had suffered from a lack of maintenance virtually since its completion, RGB’s work over four phases included complete exterior and interior restoration.

The $16.5 million project included structural repairs, a new slate roof, new wood thermal windows (660 openings; 2,900 sashes), upgraded elevators, two new courtrooms, new egress stairs. signage systems and ADA compliance.

“The historic importance of the architecture was keenly understood by your historic preservation architect, who oversaw the smallest detail of the restoration...the project received the care and attention to detail so important to a building of such historic significance….” ~James M. Allam, Former Executive Director Rhode Island Public Buildings Authority

RGB was commission to provide restoration and rehabilitation to the Governor's Conference Room within the 1900 McKim, Mead and White Period structure. The room was converted to a Conference and Media Center with new color and lighting schemes. Work included utilization of State owned antiques, historic paint color analysis and structural analysis of fire proof terra cotta ceiling. Paint work included building and custom color matching for the ceiling ornamentation. Lighting included restoration of original cut glass gassolier and core drilling through ceiling structure to install concealed lighting. 

RGB served as the associated architect for the Manchester Street Station repowering plant addition and renovation. The project consisted of two major components. In Phase I, RGB completed the Master Plan with Carol Johnson, LA, William D. Warner Architects and Planners, Bechtel Power Corporation, Narragansett Electric and New England Power Company. Phase II included the restoration of the existing principal structure. The $514 million required major site improvements of 50 acres. RGB provided a boat launch, piers and walkways, and a new public waterfront park. This project allowed the Plant’s capacity to triple and reduced air emissions.