Imágenes: El Norberto
At its January 25th Annual Meeting, the Providence Preservation Society announced its 2017 Ten Most Endangered Properties list. While the Ward Baking Company on Eddy Street didn't make the list this year, the Tops Electric building on Point Street did.
Here's the description from the PPS website.
The Barstow Stove Company was founded by Amos Chaffee Barstow in 1836 and expanded to the complex on Point Street in 1849. The oldest building on the site (west) dates back to 1849 and has a monitor roof, granite window lintels, and a corbelled brick cornice. Today three buildings remain on the site: a four-and-one-half-story brick building with a jerkinhead gable roof, a three-story brick building with a flat roof, and the original 1849 building. A neon sign reading: “TOPS” is prominently displayed on the building’s west elevation. Fenestration on the original block consists of a combination of 1/1 replacement sash, bricked in openings and 8-light sash on the top floor. Fabric awnings project above window openings on the second story level. Attached to the rear (south) is a large, rectangular, flat-roof, concrete block. The central and eastern blocks of the complex also feature replacement 1/1 sash windows. Pedestrian entrances are located along the Point Street elevation.
By 1859, the company had 200 employees and made 50 different kinds of stoves and furnaces. The company eventually acquired the competing Spicer Stove Company, making Barstow the only stove foundry in Providence, and the largest in New England. The complex included two molding rooms, a flask storage building, a room for stoves, storage areas for up to 5000 stoves, and pattern storage.
Barstow began producing gas stoves in the 1920s to keep up with contemporary technology, but could not compete and went out of business in the 1930s. For around ten years the plant was occupied by the Home Service Company, which did household repairs. Since 1974, Tops Electric Company has operated out of the complex, but it was sold in 2015 to the current owners who are evaluating potential uses and redevelopment scenarios.
To see the complete PPS Most Endangered list for the city, click HERE.
Here's the description from the PPS website.
The Barstow Stove Company was founded by Amos Chaffee Barstow in 1836 and expanded to the complex on Point Street in 1849. The oldest building on the site (west) dates back to 1849 and has a monitor roof, granite window lintels, and a corbelled brick cornice. Today three buildings remain on the site: a four-and-one-half-story brick building with a jerkinhead gable roof, a three-story brick building with a flat roof, and the original 1849 building. A neon sign reading: “TOPS” is prominently displayed on the building’s west elevation. Fenestration on the original block consists of a combination of 1/1 replacement sash, bricked in openings and 8-light sash on the top floor. Fabric awnings project above window openings on the second story level. Attached to the rear (south) is a large, rectangular, flat-roof, concrete block. The central and eastern blocks of the complex also feature replacement 1/1 sash windows. Pedestrian entrances are located along the Point Street elevation.
By 1859, the company had 200 employees and made 50 different kinds of stoves and furnaces. The company eventually acquired the competing Spicer Stove Company, making Barstow the only stove foundry in Providence, and the largest in New England. The complex included two molding rooms, a flask storage building, a room for stoves, storage areas for up to 5000 stoves, and pattern storage.
Barstow began producing gas stoves in the 1920s to keep up with contemporary technology, but could not compete and went out of business in the 1930s. For around ten years the plant was occupied by the Home Service Company, which did household repairs. Since 1974, Tops Electric Company has operated out of the complex, but it was sold in 2015 to the current owners who are evaluating potential uses and redevelopment scenarios.
To see the complete PPS Most Endangered list for the city, click HERE.
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