Ladd Observatory [SEP] architect
Ladd Observatory
The Ladd Observatory is an astronomical observatory that is operated by the Department of Physics at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. It was dedicated on October 21, 1891. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.
Construction.
The observatory is named for benefactor Herbert W. Ladd who offered to fund the construction in the spring of 1889. The building was designed by the Providence-based firm of Stone, Carpenter & Willson in the Classical Revival style. Construction began in
, and Rochambeau. In 1886 the directors of Swan Point Cemetery hired landscape architect Horace Cleveland of Chicago to plan a road to improve access to the cemetery from the town of Providence. This road opened in 1894 as Blackstone Boulevard.
The 20th century saw institutional development in the form of Central Baptist Church, Temple Emanuel, and St. Sebastian's Roman Catholic Church.
Brown University built several facilities in the neighborhood. Ladd Observatory was built in 1891 on the edge of the neighborhood at Hope Street and Doyle Avenue. In