Just below the crest of Smith Hill at 82 Smith Street, your Rhode Island State House rose between 1891 and 1901. Designed by McKim, Mead & White of New York and constructed from 1891 to 1901, this neoclassical building is Rhode Island's seventh state house and the second located in Providence after the Old State House. Look up: the building features the fourth largest structural-stone dome in the world, and atop it stands the gilded statue of The Independent Man, representing freedom and independence.
Inside, the structure houses the Rhode Island General Assembly — the House of Representatives in the west wing and the Senate in the east — and the offices of the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, and general treasurer. Other state offices sit on a campus just north of the State House. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970 and underwent a major renovation in the late 1990s.
As you stand here, imagine the sweep of decisions and ceremonies held beneath that dome since 1901, in a building by a prominent architectural firm. Notice The Independent Man atop the dome, and the fringe of downtown on Smith Hill spreading beyond it.