Downtown Providence, Rhode Island, is home to 47 hotel rooms that embody both the city’s philanthropic past and its future as a vibrant, people-centric urban hub. Each of those rooms is within The Beatrice, a boutique hotel named after Beatrice Temkin. “Bea,” as she was known, was a lifelong Providence resident who gained a reputation as a civic leader and AIDS activist. Her son, former Providence mayor Joseph Paolino Jr., honored her legacy, which included founding Project AIDS Rhode Island, by naming a hotel in the city’s heart after his mother. On a recent trip to the city, I experienced how The Beatrice preserves its history while serving as a convenient gateway for accessing both the immediate university campuses and downtown core, as well as Rhode Island more broadly.
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A contemporary experience in a historic building
Photo courtesy The Beatrice
The Beatrice embodies the best of adaptive urban renewal. The hotel in downtown Providence occupies the former National Exchange Bank building, appropriately on the corner of Westminster and Exchange Streets. Originally constructed in 1845 as one of downtown’s earliest commercial structures, it was dramatically remodeled in 1888 by the firm Stone, Carpenter & Willson, who gave the south end of the building a Queen Anne–style façade with oriels, projecting bays, and even a small corner spire. In the 1980s, the building was rehabilitated and linked by atrium to the adjacent Fleet Center office complex. After redevelopment plans took shape in 2017, the property was converted into The Beatrice.
The atrium now houses the hotel’s check-in area and lobby, unique in that it gives guests the chance to see the historical markings on the outside of the Exchange building that now comprises one wall of the lobby area.
Just across the street from the hotel is the Kennedy Plaza Intermodal Transportation Center, the central transit hub in downtown Providence that connects the city center to its suburbs, Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport, and the country beyond. The entirety of downtown is walkable from the hotel – from the Rhode Island School of Design and Brown University campuses to its nightlife and dining scenes, government center, and corporate headquarters for Textron, Citizens Bank, Nortek, and Providence Equity. The result is a new urbanist’s dream – there’s no need to rent a car on a trip based at The Beatrice because everything you need is more easily accessible via other modes of transportation.
What it’s like to stay at The Beatrice
Photo courtesy The Beatrice
To be fully transparent, the first thing that caught my attention once in my room at The Beatrice was the toilet – in particular, its heated seat and adjustable bidet that featured a wall-mounted control panel with about as many buttons and nozzles as an electric car. Never before have I been welcomed in this manner after a long day of travel. Never will I forget how refreshed I felt before I even stepped into the shower.
The room was clean and tidy, with a noticeable juxtaposition between the soft pillows and slightly firm mattress. I appreciated this as well, as a stomach and side sleeper who changes positions frequently throughout the night. Ample water pressure and zero-waste toiletries are to be expected in posh hotel settings, and The Beatrice came through with both.
Photo: Lynn Wenger
The Beatrice blends the ornate Queen Anne–style façade of its 19th-century bank building – featuring tall windows and historic brickwork – with a modern interior. The staff is as well-trimmed as they are well-informed about the city’s restaurants and happenings. I was traveling with my mother, who is gluten free and has a host of other dietary restrictions, and they recommended dining at Plant City, a nearby vegan cafe and market, which was perfect. The vibe inside the hotel is elegant yet intimate, pairing warm lighting, polished contemporary design, and luxurious touches (like its high-tech bathrooms) in a manner that is both vibrantly urban and somehow relaxing at the same time. The hotel is downtown and that comes with the “charms” of urban living – including the occasional loud motorist at odd hours or people socializing outside with music and banter in the evenings. I always travel with headphones for such occasions, and made use of the them during my stay.
Groups or families booking more than one room can have adjacent rooms in a private hallway with a door that can be shut to the hotel’s main corridor. This is particularly great for kids moving between the rooms. An elevated lounge area just behind the check-in desk made for a great spot for my parents and I to enjoy an afternoon glass of bubbly before having dinner at the hotel’s restaurant, Bellini.
On-site dining at The Beatrice
Bellini restaurants—particularly the iconic Harry’s Bar in Venice—are as much social landmarks as they are dining establishments. Serving Italian fare in an upscale setting and with an extensive bar menu, the establishments have historically attracted writers and artists to their barstools in addition to drawing elites, romantics, and probably the occasional shadow character to their booths. Locations tend to be in major global hubs. At the rooftop Bellini Lounge at The Beatrice, I asked the bartender about the brand and he seemed as perplexed as I about the choice to open in Providence.
“There’s New York, Dubai, Venice, and Providence, Rhode Island,” he said. “It’s sort of like, which one doesn’t belong? But it works here, anyhow. People are drawn to it.”
Indeed, I had greatly enjoyed my Pappardelle “alla Bellini” dish downstairs in the restaurant just before heading up for a nightcap, the cream in the Pomodoro sauce giving it a kick of flavor more akin to a vodka sauce than a standard red sauce. The service was fantastic – our waitress was so friendly that by the end of the meal I swore I’d met her before. The namesake drink lived up to the hype as well. It was at Harry’s Bar, founded by Giuseppe Cipriani (the Cipriani family continues to operate the Bellini restaurants today) in 1931, that the Bellini cocktail was born: combining Prosecco with fresh white-peach purée (inspired by the drink’s rosy hue that reminded Cipriani of a painting by Renaissance artist Giovanni Bellini) sometime in the 1940s.
Using The Beatrice as a hub for exploring the area
I stayed three nights at The Beatrice and it proved an excellent hack for exploring Newport without succumbing to its pricey summer lodging rates. Rooms here start around $231 per night, where comparable lodging on the coast would cost at least $100 more. The Beatrice is about a bloc from the Providence Riverwalk, and only slightly further from WaterFire, theaters, shops, and restaurants. Providence, like other historic New England cities, is known for compact, walkable districts – and from the hotel, even the Amtrak station is easily accessible. I couldn’t have stayed in a more convenient spot for a trip that mixed business and leisure.
