On Airport Road in Warwick, the original terminal at Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport is easy to miss if you’re expecting glass, jet bridges, and a busy curbside. The two-story art deco building, a stucco-covered masonry structure that opened in 1933, predates the jet age and once served as the state’s front door for air travel.
When it opened, the airport was known as Hillsgrove State Airport, and the terminal was the first public-sector building constructed in the art deco style in Rhode Island. By 1961, the state opened a larger terminal on Post Road to meet growing passenger demand and accommodate jet aircraft. Since then, the original terminal has been closed to the public, and few people have seen the inside.
The Rhode Island Airport Corp., which owns the building, says the site is not in regular use while it considers its next Airport Master Plan. A spokesman said the agency has no plans to tear the building down, and it intends to develop an approach to preserving it as part of the planning process, following Federal Aviation Administration guidelines.
For mason contractors and preservation trades, the story is a reminder of what durable, well-maintained masonry can do for a community’s built environment. Nearly a century after it opened, the building is still standing, still recognizable, and still positioned for a next chapter, even as airport operations have expanded around it.
The original terminal was designed by Providence architecture firm Jackson, Robertson & Adams. According to its National Register listing, the interior has minimal ornamentation today, and a notable Vitrolite and chrome ticket counter was removed after the terminal closed. The building sits near current cargo operations and general aviation hangars, keeping the old gateway to Rhode Island in view for charter and private arrivals.
Read the full, original article from The Providence Journal here.