 
The Governor Henry Lippitt House Museum was built earlier in
1865 downtown on Hope Street. It has been called the finest nineteenth
century house open to the public in Providence and The New York
Times describes it as "one of the most complete, authentic
and intact Victorian houses in the country." Nearby on Power
Street is the 1788 former home of wealthy China trade merchant John
Brown.
Says, Adamo, "Walking Providence is fun, like being on a
school field trip."
Hotels
The city's hotels likewise vary from new hotel arrivals on the
scene like the extensive Crowne Plaza in Warwick, 8 minutes to the
south of downtown Providence with easier parking and more convenient
access than the city's downtown hotels. Those include great old dames
like the 1922 Biltmore built on Dorrance Street, famous in the Big
Band era when Benny Goodman or Jimmy Dorsey had the glitterati of
the day swaying to their music, that is if the ballroom hadn't been
converted for the occasion to a pool for an Esther Williams glamorous
swimming show or to ice for Olympic and Hollywood celebrity Sonya
Henie.
Other downtown choices comprise on West Exchange Street, the Westin,
adjacent to the convention center and connected to the Providence
Place Mall by a skybridge and on Westminster Street, the recently
opened and restored Hotel Providence, one of the Small Luxury Hotels
of the World.
The charm, of course, of any downtown hotel depends on whether
the city is walkable. Despite initial impressions of urban sprawl,
the most interesting places in Providence are all within walking
distance of each other.
 The
downtown summer event that has put the city on the map, of course,
is WaterFire, the Zen-like enigmatic evening experience of wandering
the river bank, or floating by in a small boat -- or gondola -- while
150 volunteers feed about a hundred braziers burning logs in the
river. Now in its 11th year it has been enjoyed by more than four
million spectators. Says Barnaby Evans, its artistic creator, "The
event is to comment: in life we are too often in a hurry. WaterFire
is an invitation to slow down."
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