This open house event is the signature event of Providence Preservation Society's (PPS) annual Festival of Architecture & Design. Eight homes completed between 1951 and 2024 will be open to the public, including three designed by modernist architect Ira Rakatansky and one postmodern gem from 1988. Also included are three homes built between 2010 and 2024 that were and are at the forefront of sustainable design in Providence, including the city's first net zero home.
PPS ran its first open house event in 1958, two years after the organization was established. Over the years, the Festival of “historic houses” celebrated many of the city’s 18th- and 19th-century buildings and neighborhoods, from Elmwood to College Hill to the West End. Last year, the focus was on modern and contemporary design for the first time, opening eleven homes to the public that were built between 1957 and 2004, featuring the work of some of Providence’s modern heroes, including Ira Rakatansky, Lester Millman, and Friedrich St. Florian.
This year, the open house event tracks with PPS’s own history, starting with one of the city’s most significant modernist homes built in 1958 – the year of PPS’s first open house – by the architect Ira Rakatansky. The tour includes access to another Rakatansky home designed in 1952, a classic 1980s postmodern home, and several milestone homes that set the standard for sustainable design, including Providence’s first LEED-compliant home, finished in 2010, and the city’s first net zero home, which was completed just last year. (LEED certification was developed by the US Green Buildings Council in 2008 to set standards for energy-efficient design.) The day provides an opportunity to see seven homes at the cutting edge of modern and sustainable design, with opportunities to hear directly from some of the project architects and builders throughout the day.
If you are looking to get your steps in, this is the day for it: the route is roughly three miles, and it also makes for a terrific bike ride. Architects, builders, and firms whose work is represented on this tour include Ira Rakatansky, KITE Architects, Dave Kessler/Native Structures, Royer Architects, and ZeroEnergy Design. There will be a series of programs on sustainable design – more information will be available closer to the event.
Addresses for all of the homes will be provided at registration, and all guests will be given a walking and biking map for those who prefer not to drive. PPS will run a shuttle bus that will stop at several locations along the circuit for those would like to walk but would also like an assist! Please note that the shuttle will not stop at every house, but at four designated locations along the route, which will be marked in the walking map.
Advance registration required
$80 PPS members | $90 non-members | $40 students
This event is part of Docomomo US Tour Day 2026.
