On Thursday night Moonie and I attended the “Endangered Properties” photo exhibit reception by the Providence Preservation Society. Moonie was enjoying seeing photos of various buildings he’s noticed or even been in around our city.

One of these is the Shepard Building, which has one of the coolest staircases around.

Moonie found a little spot halfway up to play hide-and-seek.

He also discovered the machine that shows various ads from when the Shepard’s department store operated in the historic building. It’s a cool display that has both lights and action – two of Moonie’s favorite things (after cookies and flowers and doggies and kitties and people and ice cream and…).

The department store was built in 1880 and was repaired after a 1920 fire. It fell into disrepair decades later when the store closed, but it was lovingly restored in the ’90s and has operated as the University of Rhode Island’s downtown campus for 20 years. You can still find salvaged pieces from its department store days throughout the lobby.

Another cool thing about the Shepard building is there is always art on display. We enjoyed not only what was on the walls throughout the lobby and alongside the staircase, but also in the library windows, which are currently hosting some kind of steampunk light fixtures. Moonie thought they were pretty awesome, even if this one looks ready to beam him back to his home planet.