Providence Preservation Society

Founded in 1956, providence preservation society (pps) is one of the country's first preservation organizations. It is a unique civic nonprofit with a distinguished history of scholarship, grassroots advocacy, and visionary educational and training initiatives that has worked for nearly 70 years to make our city the vibrant and unforgettable place that it is. Pps documents the city's history through publications and multi-media programs; educates our community about providence's architectural and social history; promotes green building, redevelopment and sustainability policies and projects; teaches preservation and restoration trades skills that support workforce development; and advocates for community-centered planning. It is the largest citywide advocacy organization in rhode island, with approximately 500 member households

Through its historic property marker program, pps recognizes buildings in the city of providence that contribute in a positive way to the appreciation and understanding of providence's unique architectural, historical and cultural heritage. There are more than 1,600 property markers on buildings throughout the city of providence, each mounted on buildings in a way that allows public viewing. Each building that is given a marker is also provided with a building history. These histories are publicly accessible and together serve as the recognized reference resource on providence's architecture. The online guide to providence architecture has about 35,000 users each year.

Pps is the owner of one of the city's most significant colonial-era buildings. We utilize best practices in historic preservation stewardship. In mid-2023, we completed a major renovation project to make the old brick school house fully accessible and code compliant, while addressing structural, hvac, and systems issues, modeling the synthesis of green energy updates within historic landmark structures.in 2022, we established building works, which encompasses both workforce training and homeowner training programs, holding monthly or bi-monthly workshops on topics such as wooden window repair and rehabilitation, water management, weatherization, plaster repair, preservation carpentry and masonry, and historic building deconstruction.