Providence Athenaeum

On December 23, 1848, Sarah Helen Whitman broke off her relationship with Edgar Allan Poe inside this building. That fact alone earns the Providence Athenaeum a place on any honest itinerary. The Greek Revival structure on Benefit Street was completed in 1838, designed by Philadelphia architect William Strickland, and traces its origins to a subscription library founded in 1753. The building is open to the public; checking out books requires membership. H.P. Lovecraft, who lived nearby, frequented it and wrote about it — he never joined.