Mount Pleasant High School is easily one of the most impressive buildings in the city of Providence. When one travels north on Academy Avenue toward Smith Street, LaSalle Academy attracts attention, but I always look over their athletic fields an enjoy seeing the towers of Mount Pleasant in the distance.
Mount Pleasant was built in 1938 in the ‘Collegiate Gothic Style,’ according to the Providence Preservation Society. There’s also some good background info here. Its a great example of the ‘last gasp’ of really great public architecture in Rhode Island before World War 2. As I’ve often said, I find it amazing that during the Depression, Americans found the resources to build magnificent, aspirational structures that no doubt served to keep up morale. When I see how public buildings, particularly schools, are built so cheap and ugly now, I compare them to structures like Mount Pleasant and despair at how cheap and short-sighted we can be.