VIDEO: GoLocal Is Moving on Up
Monday, January 16, 2023
GoLocal, Rhode Island’s largest locally owned news organization, is moving on up.
The company will be expanding its Providence headquarters and launching a series of new studios on the first level of the Turks Head building — one of the city's most historically significant landmarks.
“When we launched GoLocal a dozen years ago, we were located in a basement, albeit a cool basement, and now over the years, we have grown and transformed into one of the largest news organizations in the state,” said Josh Fenton, CEO and Co-Founder.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST“The Turks Head building is arguably one of the country’s most beautiful commercial buildings, and we are thrilled to be on the street level,” said Fenton.
GoLocal will be in the most visible, centrally located portion of the iconic location at the intersection of Weybosset and Westminster Streets.
The Turks Head Building was Providence’s first “skyscraper” when it was constructed in 1913.
Three new studios are now being built-out at GoLocal’s new space.
“In a time of corporate media and out-of-state companies, we are a stark contrast — we are a Rhode Island startup committed to unveiling the most important stories in the state," added Fenton.
Spearheaded by Fenton and News Editor Kate Nagle, GoLocal features a cadre of regular opinion writers and contributors on news, politics, business, and lifestyle that includes Robert Whitcomb, Froma Harrop, Rob Horowitz, Mac Owens, Jennifer Lawless, Raymond "Two Hawks" Watson, Mark Curtis, Dr. Ed Iannucilli, Will Morgan, Matt Espeut, John Crowe, and Michael Rose.
History of the Turks Head -- Providence Architecture
The Turks Head building was designed in 1913 by New York architects Howells & Strokes. The building was erected by the Brown Land Co. as an investment for members of the Brown family, and was part of a highway improvement plan that would encourage more useful road relocation movements in the future. A portion of the original lot was taken by the city for widening the highway at the street intersection. The Turks Head which has been familiar to nearly every resident of the state for more than three generations graces its origin back to the days when signs, instead of numbers, were used by business houses to guide and attract customers.
Jacob Whitman's house originally stood on this site in 1750. The Turks Head building far surpasses the Whitman house in size and scale. The 16-story building, constructed of white brick with granite and limestone trimmings, is featured by a massive Turk's head in the center of the curved façade, reminiscent of the wooden effigy of an Ottoman warrior that formerly adorned Whitman's corner. The V-plan is composed of classically derived detail such as a heavy modillion cornice. Its base is arcaded with polished-granite composite columns. In the past, the building has housed brokerages, insurance firms, advertising agencies, professional offices and even a bank.
Description
The dominating feature of the building is the rounded base of the V. The front of the building is the main object at the intersection of Westminster and Weybosset Streets. The open space that forms in front of the rounded base is considered the heart of the city's financial district. It is an extremely site-conscious building that borrows elements from earlier examples that were built in New York, particularly D.H. Burnham's Flatiron Building (1902) located on the similarly shaped corner of Broadway and Fifth Avenue in Madison Square. Turk's head stands 4 stories shorter and is located on a corner that is less acute; therefore the rounded V is less dramatic and has an exterior that is plainer than Burnham's design.
Construction
The building takes advantage of new building methods that were being discovered at the beginning of the 20th century. Instead of having beams and joists depending upon the outside walls for support, the weight of the Turks Head building is distributed through a great cage of steel which depends upon pillars of concrete extending down into the earth to a firm foundation of bed rock or hardpan more than 20 feet below the tidewater. Although the Turks Head building was regarded by the contractors, Thompson & Starret, as a small undertaking in comparison with other skyscrapers which the firm had underway in New York, such as the Municipal and the Woolworth buildings, its construction presented many of the problems which had to be worked out in erecting the larger structures.
