Owners of Unit 409, Morris Nathanson and his wife, Phyllis, also own Blackstone Studios, our neighbors on Exchange Street. Blackstone Studios, a former cardboard factory, was the first building in our neighborhood to be adapted for reuse and now houses several design firms including Morris Nathanson Design, a firm specializing in interior design in the hospitality field. In his 50 years as a designer, Morris has headed design projects all over the world including many restaurants, hotels, resorts including Euro Disney, reuse projects, and Royal Caribbean International.

Morris received recognition this week for his role in creating and designing the Culinary Arts Museum at Johnson & Wales University.  Morris has been the recipient of many awards during his lifetime both as a designer, as a promoter of reuse buildings and as an advocate for the arts in Pawtucket. Among those awards, Morris holds honorary doctorates from Rhode Island College and Johnson & Wales University, and has been recognized by the Pawtucket Foundation for leadership in establishing an arts district in Pawtucket and his contributions to the Pawtucket Armory Association.  The City of Pawtucket honored Morris last year by naming the Exchange Street Bridge after him.

Morris has been active in the community for many years.  He has served on the Riverfront Commission, the boards of the Pawtucket Arts Collaborative and the Pawtucket Foundation, and has been a passionate promoter of the arts in the city where he was raised. He was a founding member of Trinity Repertory Theatre where he designed sets and was involved in the conversion of a garage into the Gamm Theatre. As a fine artist, Morris is an exhibiting member of the Providence Art Club.

Riverfront Lofts has benefited from Morris’ expertise as well.  Morris made design contributions to the conversion project of the building from industrial mill to work/live lofts and is the creator of the wall relief in our lobby.

To learn more about Morris, click here.

To learn more about his design firm, click here.

To visit the website of the Culinary Arts Museum, click here.