"Providence Arcade"
...ding. It needed more space around it to be appreciated. The other side of the building was also a full porch entry with Corinthian columns. The columns supported a stepped parapet instead of a pediment. I thought this looked horrendous. I do not like the looks of this because it looks out of place and forced. There was easy access to the second and third floors of this building with stairs in each side of the porticos leading upstairs. I liked this accessibility, but the view on the third floor was non-existent. On the third floor balcony, unless you looked down, you could see nothing but the back end of the buildings architrave, and entablature. The third floor’s function is for offices and its hierarchy was much more prominent. As you walk around the third floor, I got a sense of “owning the place,” and being someone more important than someone who was shopping on the first floor or having some type of service done for them on the second floor. The building’s design did a very good job of invoking this type of response from me. When I entered the third floor balcony, I lost that sense of worth and was quite irritated. As we entered the first floor, I was overcome with a wonderful bakery smell that was quite inviting. I was immediately drawn towards the tremendous cathedral ceiling that incorporated 36 skylights on each side of the gable roof that followed the entire length of the building. It was quite impressive, and a great light source. My eyes then followed toward the inside façade of the building where two Corinthian columns supported an arch. At this point in time, I learned this was not part of the original building. I thought it was a nice addition, but questioned why an arch was in a Greek building. There was an easy path along this building with one aisle on each side for accessibility to the many stores. Clearly there were many more people on the first floor decreasing respectively to the second and third floors. The second floor had an intersecting balcony for access to all parts of the second floor. The third floor did not have one. This once again showed that the third floor was for a select few who worked upstairs and was not intended for the public to travel. The arcade is very symmetrical with the stairway and elevator system directly in the middle of the building on opposing sides, where you could also sit down and eat or converse. As I began to look around, I noticed the column configurations and different architectural elements. Leading from the first floor, all the way to the third floor th...