National Park Service - Rhode Island Historical Preservation ...

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0MB P- 1024-0018
NPS Form io900i En,- 10-31-U
3-82 - - -
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places
Inventory-Nomination Form -
Continuation sheet SO Item number 8
Page 6
century--an-intact, active industrial village of great historical
interest, picturesque and appealing.
In addressing this village and its architectural
significance, several points stand out. First, it harbors a
major complex of mid- and late nineteenth-century industrial
buildings #37 which both reflect the evolution of textile mill
design over six decades in terms of size, massing, roof form, and
fenestration, and also is the product of a continuance of local
vernacular masonry construction traditions for which Washington
- County is known and which was fostered in Peace Dale by the
generally conservative, Quakerly tastes of Rowland Hazard II who
designed many of these buildings and who clearly wished to create
a unified ensemble. Secondly, the civic architecture of Peace
Dale, closely related to that of the mills, is very consistent in
material, design and. quality. One civic building is outstanding,
Frank Angell’s Richardsonian Romanesque Hazard Memorial of 1891-
- 92 #30. Thirdly, vernacular architecture in Peace Dale
possesses a remarkable consistency of scale, design, and
ambition. This -is seen especially in Peace Dale domestic - -
architecture, most interestingly in its many L-plan, gable-and- -
cross-gable cottages. But in a teal sense, this strong
journeyman’s vernacular quality can be found in all building here
and this leads to a fourth poiht: Peace Dale architecture is the
product, largely, of-one man’s design efforts and patronage.
Rowland Hazard II’s architectural vocabulary; taste, and social
aims created a unified body of work possessing enormous interest.
He was not a gifted architect; his aesthetic was limited. But
herein lies the strength of his achievement. He. gave a good,
workthanlike air to the village, enlivened by an occasional
eccentricity like the watering trough #36 or company office
#37A. It was Hazard, from an architectural viewpoint, who made
this village distinctive and fine, in the same way that a wellcrafted
piece of country furniture can, be fine.
--
- Art may be deemed an area of significance relevant to Peace
Dale, for here stands, at the village center on the grounds of
Hazard Memorial library, Daniel Chester French’s beautiful 1920
monument, ,"The Weaver" #30, commissioned by Hiss Caroline
Hazard to honor her father and brothers, and, in effect, to
ceremoniously
control over
bid farewell
the village’s
through
destiny.
art to the era of Hazard
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- Peace Dale bears notice, in a contrary fashion, as an
example of community planning. It is a -planned industrial
village in which every effort was made to make it look unplanned,