Mechanical Fabric Company
55 Cromwell St is home to commercial kitchens in 2021
Mechanical Fabric Company is located in Rhode Island
Mechanical Fabric Company
Mechanical Fabric Company is located in the United States
Mechanical Fabric Company
Location55 Cromwell St., 40, 40R, 50, and 50R Sprague St., Providence, Rhode Island
Coordinates41°48′33″N 71°25′35″W / 41.80917°N 71.42639°W / 41.80917; -71.42639
Built1891 (1891)
NRHP reference No.13001059 [1]
Added to NRHPJanuary 8, 2014

The Mechanical Fabric Company is a historic factory complex on Cromwell and Sprague Streets in the West End neighborhood of Providence, Rhode Island.

Description

The complex consists of six brick buildings, arranged in roughly parallel rows in a city block bounded by Cromwell, Sprague, and Dexter Streets, and Elmwood Avenue. They were built between 1891 and about 1925. The Mechanical Fabric Company was a major player in the city's rubber industry, and was particularly notable as the site of innovations in the development and manufacture of pneumatic bicycle tires.[2]

The complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.[1]

Mechanical Fabric Company views
40 Sprague St. in disrepair in 2017
50 Sprague Street is home to "Rooms & Works" residences and workspaces in 2021
The old factory smokestack can be seen between 40R and 50 Sprague Streets

Renovations

The former mill space was renovated to include several businesses. The larger building at 55 Cromwell Street has been rebranded as "Rooms & Works."[3] It was briefly home to a food incubator, and in 2019 a local gourmet doughnut company moved in with a 5,000 square foot commercial kitchen.[3] Also in 2019, the former mill building at 40R Sprague Street welcomed a two-level, 3,500-square-foot bar and brewery.[4]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. ↑ "NRHP nomination for Mechanical Fabric Company" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved 2014-04-15.
  3. 1 2 Pelletier, Jenna (9 April 2019). "Providence's Knead Doughnuts expands again". The Providence Journal. Archived from the original on 26 March 2020. Retrieved 11 July 2021. Three-year-old Knead [donuts] has relocated all of its production ... to the 5,000-square-foot commercial kitchen space ... located at 55 Cromwell St., in a former factory complex now known as Rooms & Works
  4. ↑ Pelletier, Jenna (8 April 2019). "Providence's Long Live Beerworks moves to spacious new location". The Providence Journal. Archived from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 11 July 2021. The brewery's 3,500-square-foot new location opened this week in the renovated Mechanical Fabric Company factory complex on the West End.

See also

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