Atlantic-Degras / Providence Dyeing, Bleaching, & Calendering Company

also known as United Way Rhode Island headquarters, Calender Mills

A series of late 19th and early 20th century mill buildings converted to residential during the boom of the mid-2000s

About this Property

Redevelopment

Compared to nearby Rising Sun Mills and The Plant, Calender Mills was a smaller residential redevelopment. Streuver Brothers, Eccles and Rouse (SBER) were the original developers of the property, with the Armory Revival Company brought on as leasing agent and property management much like the Rising Sun development.

The front two units of Calendar Mills in Building 14 are zoned commercial, and have been used to house small businesses with live/work potential and street-front signage along Valley Street. The rear of Building 14, the former Filter House, was redesigned into two-story townhouse units. Since SBER declared bankruptcy in 2009, we are unsure who the owner of Calender Mills is.

One of the older buildings, the stand-apart Building 9, former Atlantic Degras building, has been converted to one large commercial office space.

Current Events

Calender Mills is managed by Armory Management and has units available for rent from time to time in Buildings 7, 14, 15, 16, and 17. Building 9, the former Atlantic Degras building, is the headquarters of United Way Rhode Island.

History

Note: This property has been split in our archive into two parts: Atlantic-Degras / Providence Dyeing, Bleaching, & Calendering Company (Calender Mills) and Providence Dyeing, Bleaching, & Calendering Company (The Plant).

From the National Register nomination form, 2003, prepared by Edward Connors and Associates

Architecture

Building No. 7, Machine/Carpenter Shop (1895 et seq.)

A two-story, 40’ x 80’ brick building with a shallow gabled roof. Originally single story, a second story was added by 1920. All segmental arch windows have been replaced. Upper windows are late 20th-century replacement type; lower windows are early 20^- century, steel frame rectangular sash. A modern double entryway is found on the east elevation. A second-story beam once served as a machinery hoist. This beam has been trimmed flush with the façade of the building. Currently occupied by Antonelli Plating.

Building No. 9, Atlantic-Degras Building (1895-1900, 1908-1920)

A single-story, brick building with monitor roof aligned north- south along the river, the southernmost building associated with PDB&C. The rear, older part of this building (93’ x 143’), the original profile of which is visible from the south, was constructed c. 1895 by the Atlantic-Degras Company on land purchased from PDB&C. After the failure of this company c. 1898, the land, now improved with a substantial building, was repurchased by PDB&C and outfitted as a storehouse by 1904. Once freestanding, this is the oldest of five contiguous buildings now occupied by Antonelli Plating.

The original building consists of a deep single story with a 7’ raised monitor running the length of the building. A stepped gable end is visible from the south. Windows on the visible (south) elevation are small, rectangular, early 20th-century metal frame sash. Visible in the brickwork are two, now brick-filled, segmental arch openings. Tile coping edges the roofline. Between 1908 and 1918 PDB&C built a brick, single-story, east addition (48’ x 143’).

In the 1970s Antonelli Plating built a single-story, triangular plan, 19’ x 44’ x 115’, cinderblock addition following the lines of the riverwall behind this building and Building No. 15. This addition occupies land reclaimed after the removal of a large settling basin associated with the process water needs of PDB&C.

Building No. 14, Office/Storage Building (1908-1918)

A two- story, brick, 82’ x 114.’ building with two shallow pitched gable roofs. Between 1908 and 1918 an Office/Storage Building was built from the east wall of the Filter House (No. 11) to Valley Street. About one fourth of the floor space at the front of the building served as the PDB&C office; the remainder served as storage space. This building replaced an earlier small office and frame storage shed that occupied the area between the Filter House and Valley Street.

Window openings are segmental arch with quarry-faced granite sills. Along the north and south elevations, on the ground floor, these are paired 6/6 double-hung with 6-light transoms; on the second floor are a mix of paired, double-hung, 9/9 windows and paired, 18-light casement windows with 6-light transoms. Some windows are altered, most notably the ground level windows of the Valley Street elevation. Although these are partially bricked-in, the upper paired transoms survive. A central Valley Street double entryway dates to the mid-20th century. An elevated walkway once spanned the alley between this building and the Storage House (No. 8).

This building and the attached Filter House are occupied by Stevell’s Plating.

Building No. 15, Chemical Storage Building (1908-1918)

This is the oldest of a series of three small, contiguous infill buildings that occupy the riverfront space between the Machine/Carpenter Shop (No. 7) and Atlantic-Degras Building (No. 9). All are now occupied by Antonelli Plating Co.

Built as a PDB&C addition to the Atlantic-Degras Building (No. 9), this is a 46’ x 64’, two-story, brick, flat-roofed structure. An altered second story survives as part of an overhead walkway that spanned the alley to the Office/Storage Building (No. 14). What appears from the alley to be a second story is actually a narrow passageway that was part of a now-demolished elevated walkway from the upper floor of the Office/Storage Building (No. 14) to Building No. 15. This enclosure is sheathed in a mix of c. 1930s shiplap wood siding and later 20th-century Texture 1-11.

In c. 1956, Antonelli Plating built a single-story, cinderblock 22’ x 35’ addition to the east wall of this building and the north wall of the Atlantic-Degras Building (No. 9). It serves as a sheltered shipping dock providing access to Building No. 9.

Building No. 16, Garage (lst floor)/Laboratory and Electrician’s Room (2nd floor) (1918-1920)

A four-bay, two-story, 36’ x 45’ brick building, the first floor of which originally served as a garage. The roof is a shallow pitched gable. Window openings are segmental arch with concrete sills. Paired upper windows are modern replacements. The first story shows steel framing flush with the brickwork. This is likely associated with the bricking-in of the original garage door.

Building No. 17, Stock Room (1918-1920)

A brick, two-story, 28’ x 55’ shallow pitched gable roof building occupying the space between the Machine/Carpenter Shop (No. 7) and Building No. 16. Windows openings are segmental arch. All but one of the original paired 12/12 double-hung windows have been replaced with modern metal 1/1 replacements. A modern doorway has been built into a now brick-filled segmental arch door opening.