Omni Providence Hotel
Centro
Flemings Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar
The Omni Providence Hotel (formerly The Westin Providence) is a Neo-Traditionalist skyscraper in downtown Providence, Rhode Island. At 100 m (328 ft), it became the fourth-tallest building in the city and the state on 15 February 2007, when the nearby slightly taller The Residences Providence topped out. Brick facades and a pitched roof adorn the building.[citation needed]
With the completion of the Residences tower, that added 200 rooms, the Omni Providence now boasts 564 rooms, and is still the tallest and largest hotel in Providence, having usurped the title from the 1922 Providence Biltmore upon completion.[citation needed]
History
The Westin Providence, as it was then known, was completed with 364 beds in December 1994 as part of a larger construction project which included the Rhode Island Convention Center and two parking garages.[1] The hotel held its first gala in January 1995.[1]
The hotel was sold to Omni Hotels & Resorts in October 2012 and was converted to the Omni Providence Hotel on January 15, 2013.[5]
The hotel is connected by the Providence Skybridge, constructed by the architect Friedrich St. Florian in 2000, with the Providence Place shopping mall.[6]
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic forced the Omni to close to the public in March 2020.[7] The hotel found some financial relief in January 2021 when nearby Brown University leased 240 rooms to provide socially distanced housing for their students, including weekly laundry service and a COVID testing site on the third floor.[7]
Criticism
William McKenzie Woodward, a local architectural historian and staff member of the Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission does not believe its styling to be architecturally innovative, calling it "yet another bland addition to the city's growing recent collection of buildings seemingly designed not to offend."[8]
References
- ^ a b c Leazes, Francis J.; Motte, Mark T. (2004). Providence, The Renaissance City. UPNE. p. 173. ISBN 9781555536046. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
- ^ "Emporis building ID 125360". Emporis. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "Omni Providence Hotel". SkyscraperPage.
- ^ Omni Providence Hotel at Structurae
- ^ http://news.providencejournal.com/breaking-news/2012/10/omni-acquires-westin-hotel-in-providence.html [dead link]
- ^ "05-128 (Friedrich St.Florian)". www.brown.edu.
- ^ a b Gagosz, Alexa (4 February 2021). "When your college dorm is a four-star hotel". Boston, MA: The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on 4 February 2021. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
Brown University leased 240 rooms at the Omni Providence to provide socially distanced housing, and in turn, guaranteed income for a hotel that's been closed since last March
- ^ Woodward, William McKenzie (2003). Guide to Providence Architecture. Providence: Providence Preservation Society. ISBN 0-9742847-0-X.
External links
- Omni Providence Hotel official website
- v
- t
- e
- Industrial National Bank Building
- One Financial Plaza
- The Residences Providence
- Omni Providence Hotel
- Textron World Headquarters
- 50 Kennedy Plaza
- Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island Headquarters
- Waterplace 1
- Rhode Island State House
- Omni Biltmore Hotel
- Providence County Courthouse
- Turk's Head Building
- Waterplace 2
- One Citizens Plaza
- Sciences Library
- The Sister Dominica Manor
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2d/Waterplace_Towers_and_Blue_Cross_building.jpg/150px-Waterplace_Towers_and_Blue_Cross_building.jpg)