The Market House in Providence, Rhode Island

Located in Market Square in the College Hill neighborhood of Providence, Rhode Island, the Market House is a historic three-story brick market house. Constructed between 1773 and 1775, the building was designed by prominent local architect Joseph Brown and assisted by Declaration of Independence signer Stephen Hopkins. The bottom floor of the house was used as a market, while the upper level was used for holding meetings. It served as a center of civic life in Providence, and on March 2, 1775, residents gathered there to burn British tea to show their resistance to British taxation.

During the American Revolution, the building served as barracks for French soldiers encamped in Providence. In 1797, a third floor was added to the house to house the first Masonic Lodge in Rhode Island. Thomas Smith Webb, a member of the lodge, organized St. John's Encampment Number One in 1802, which was the first Knights Templar organization in America. In 1832, Mayor Samuel W. Bridgham moved the Providence City Council to meet in the Market House. As the city grew, the government occupied the entire building, renaming it the City Building, until the new City Hall was completed in 1878.

After the city vacated the building, it hosted various tenants, including the Providence Board of Trade and the Rhode Island Electric Light Company. The building underwent restoration work in the 1930s and was restored to its 1833 appearance by 1940. In 1948, Mayor Dennis J. Roberts signed a deed to give the building to the Rhode Island School of Design, with the provision that the exterior be maintained. A pair of plaques on the exterior wall marks the highest water levels reached during the Great Storm of 1815 and the Hurricane of 1938.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons