AUXILIARY, VACANT, COMMERCIAL
The Jewelry District is a section of downtown Providence that is named for its history as a center for manufacturing and jewelry making. Very little of this history remains to be seen there today, which is hidden inside of nondescript commercial warehouses and buildings. Now, the most impressive aspect of this place is its constructed emptiness, apparent in the number of lots that have been cleared for parking. This phenomenon is counter to the usual density in the central areas of cities. What was once a lively area for residences and businesses has been cleared to accommodate the modern driver. In reaction to this, the goal of this book is to fill these empty locations with their history. The following pages will show the most recent information found in the tax assessor’s database combined with the historical data in the City Hall archive. In the tax assessor’s database, these lots are categorized as Auxiliary, Vacant, Commercial. The facts alone are devoid of meaning but when set together, it is possible that they can create a new understanding of these spaces.
