Tag: College Hill

College Hill- Providence’s Colonial Urban Gem located just east of Downtown & Home to Brown University

College Hill is the most affluent neighborhood in Providence, with a median family income of nearly three times that of the whole city. Next to Dwtn it is Providence’s oldest neighborhood and home to the City’s colonial core.  By 1644, settlement had taken root in College Hill around a natural spring at the base of the neighborhood near the Providence River. College Hill has some of the City’s oldest and more prominent buildings (e.g. Old State House, Providence Atheneaeum, John Brown House, Providence County Courthouse, Providence County Courthouse, and many iconic bldgs at Brown University). It is also known for its gorgeous 18th and 19th century mansions. Prior to Brown University’s 1770 relocation to Providence, the area was known as Prospect Hill. By the time of the American Revolution, the foot of the College Hill was densely populated with wharves, warehouses, shops, public buildings, and residential houses.

By the 1900s the portion of College Hill near Providence River became working class leading to many subdivided larger homes. It appears the rest of College Hill remained middle-upper middle class. By the mid century there were several urban renewal efforts to clean up this perceived slums of Providence and to expand and modernize Brown University. Soon after a major preservation report was published in 1959  recommending the restoration of North Benefit and conversion to residential uses. While this was a major victory for historic preservation, it helped gentrify the area displacing the neighborhood’s working class African-American and Cape Verdean communities. Regardless,  College Hill was destined to gentrify eventually given its proximity to Dwtn, Brown University, and incredible historic and architectural gems.

Not much to complain about with College Hill from an urban perspective but for it to become a top tier American urban district in line with the best neighborhoods of NYC, Boston, San Fran, DC, and Philly it needs more density, which would help drive more retail amenities like a neighborhood grocery store or urban target. College Hill also needs more affordable housing and better bike infrastructure.

Click here to view my College Hill Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Solid density but lower than I was expecting for Providence’s top tier urban district and home of Brown University.
* Solid sidewalks and ADA Curb cuts that are up to standard in most intersections.
* Good public transit access, especially the western half of the neighborhood. Very convenient access to Dwtn where residents living near the Providence River have a 5-10 walk to dwtn.
* Excellent economic diversity and solid racial diversity.
* A couple large and excellent private schools ranging from K-12 that are likely very expensive. A good public elementary schools but the public HS isn’t well rated.
* Overall a very safe community with limited blight. Some theft but that’s pretty typical for a college campus.
* Lots of for-sale options but pretty expensive. Thankfully do to the diversity of housing options there are moderately price condos often in multi-family historic mansions. This includes plenty of 1-bed condos that sell btwn 200K-600K, 2-bed btwn 200K-1M, and 3 & 4 beds btwn 400K-2 M. Some multi-million $ options for larger mansions.
* Good parks but many of them are quads or sport complexes for Brown University. Other park amenities include the Providence River Greenway, the historic Memorial Park, Prospect Terrace w/ excellent views of Dwtn, all the parks space and ballfields around Hope HS, and a major pool and rec center at Brown University.
* Great tree canopy throughout.
* Very attractive Historic Architecture spanning the late 17th to early 20th century. Amazing historic mansions, ornate commercial bldgs, and excellent historic collegiate architecture at Brown University.
* Numerous cultural amenities including a great diversity of ethnic restaurants, plenty of bars & cafes, several art galleries, a plentitude of historic sites, College and City Museums, several concert halls within Brown or nearby, several theaters at Brown, a couple local theaters, and an Indie Movie Theater. Also very convenient access to the Cultural Amenities Dwtn.
* Solid urban form with few parking lots or strip malls. Urban in-fill while not ubiquitous is generally of good quality.
* Good retail amenities but a bit underwhelming for a top tier urban college. Urban amenities include a Whole Food located just north of the district, a drug store,  good amount of boutiques & gift stores, a university book store, a couple art supply stores, a hardware store, a couple antique/furniture stores, several banks, a local post office, several dessert joints, a couple gyms, and plenty of churches.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

  • Not a ton of age diversity as many living here are of college age.
  • A nice north to south seperated bike lane running along the river, but not much else.
  • Good # of rentals but less than I would expect for a College District. Rentals are expensive for Providence. Some studios lease btwn 1K-1.5K, more 1-beds that rent btwn 1.8K-3K-, 2-beds 2K-4K, 3 & 4 beds btwn 2K-4.5K.
  • No public library nor a department store like Target but these things can be found Dwtn and Providence Place Mall.”

College Hill- A Once Thriving North St. Louis Urban District named after St. Louis University.

The area was originally called the Town of Lowell but got its name because it was the location of the Saint Louis University College Farm acquired by the University for garden and recreation purposes in 1836. The farm was subdivided in the early 1870s and the development of College Hill began with its annexation into the City of St. Louis in 1871. The neighborhood’s most iconic remaining landmarks, The Grand Avenue Water Tower, was built in 1871 and was thought to. be the largest perfect Corinthian column in existence. Another great monument,  the Bissell Tower, was built in 1887. The neighborhood filled in between 1880 and 1920 with a mixture of townhouses and four family flats along with some single-family brick dwellings. The area’s historic commercial center was located along East Grand around the Old Water Tower with a strip along W. Florissant Avenue. This neighborhood was a vibrant and very walkable district into the late 1960s. But the 1970s, with white flight and the expanding area of concentrated Black poverty in North St. Louis, was disastrous for College Hill. The vast majority of structures have been demolished here and the neighborhood’s population now sits at about 10% of its peak. College Hill has lost significantly more of its built environment comparted to neighboring O’Fallon’s Park.

On the bright side, half of College Hill’s residents are homeowners who don’t appear to be going anywhere soon. Given College Hill’s convenience of Dwtn St. Louis (4 miles), solid public transit, great park amenities, and great connectivity and urban grid it is only a matter of time before this once great urban neighborhood comes back, but it could still take a couple decades given the fact that the City of St. Louis is still loosing population.

Click here to view my College Hill Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Sidewalks generally consistent but only about  1/4 of all intersections are ADA accessible.
* Decent public transit access and very convenient access to dwtn being just a 25 min bus ride and 10 min drive. Also only a 25 min bike ride.
* Excellent connectivity.
* Decent # of families with kids.
* Limited parks within College Hill but some great ones located on the edge of it (Fairground Park, O’Fallon Park, and Hyde Park.
* Decent tree canopy.
* College Hill has two iconic historic water towers (i.e. Grand Avenue & Bissell Street).

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

  • This is over a 90% Black neighborhood but some economic diversity.
  • Limited bike lanes within College Hill but some decent bike paths just outside of the neighborhood and not too hard to get to the Mississippi Riverfront trail that then feeds to Dwtn.
  • Decent public elementary schools here but only a handful of other smaller private schools and a poorly rated public high school located not too far away.
  • Limited rentals listed on the market. What does exist is probably pretty cheap.
  • For sale housing market is pretty limited too. What does sell homes in generally btwn 50K-150K.
  • Generally pretty high crime rates here and lots of vacancy and blight.
  • Some decent historic architecture but what is still standing is often blighted. Modern in-fill is very limited.
  • There is essentially no open businesses or cultural amenities within College Hill. Some retail amenities in neighboring O’Fallon Park.
  • Since of the bldgs. are gone in the historic commercial districts (Grand Blvd and Florissant) there is not much urban form to speak of. The streetscaping is better along Grand as the sidewalks are often overgrown and missing on Florissant.
  • Poor density for an urban area.”