The Beatrice

The Beatrice opened in autumn 2021 in the 1887 Exchange Building at 90 Westminster Street in downtown Providence. It has 47 rooms, an Italian restaurant, Bellini, and a private rooftop club. Joseph R. Paolino Jr. developed it and named it for his mother.

The place

The Beatrice is at 90 Westminster Street, in downtown Providence's historic district, in the 1887 Exchange Building. The rooftop looks over the historic district and the nearby canals. Westminster Street runs through the city's old commercial core, a short walk from Kennedy Plaza, the bus hub, and from Waterplace Park, where the river basin is used for WaterFire.

Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design are on the east side of the river, up College Hill.

The concept

Paolino Properties, led by the former Providence mayor Joseph R. Paolino Jr., developed the hotel in an 1887 building that had been a bank and office block. It is named for the owner's late mother, Beatrice Temkin. The company announced the grand opening on 12 October 2021, after an earlier target of late summer. The hotel presented itself as the first boutique hotel to open in Providence in nearly a decade.

ZDS Architecture & Interiors designed the conversion, with a contemporary look meant to respect the 19th-century shell. The 47 rooms have high ceilings and large windows. Each includes a Dyson Supersonic hair dryer, Mascioni linens made in Milan, a Nespresso machine, BeeKind toiletries and an in-room fitness kit. A fitness center is on site, and the hotel keeps a rotating selection of books and board games.

Public money supported the work. In 2019, the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation authorized up to $4.25 million in foregone state taxes for a redevelopment then estimated at $19 million. The project had been planned for years before it opened.

The Beatrice is independent, with no brand or points program behind it.

Dining & wellness

Bellini is the restaurant, conceived by Ignazio Cipriani and described as the first Bellini in New England. The menu changes and has included pappardelle alla Bellini and sauteed clams alla Veneziana, with imported wines, beers and cocktails.

The Bellini Club is a private rooftop club for members and hotel guests, which opened after the hotel itself, in the fall of 2021 according to the first announcement.