Documenting Change since 2002

Engine Company 8 (Annex)

also known as Hook & Ladder 2 and Atlantic Steamer 8 Fire Station

A 150-year-old firehouse annex gets a third life as an expanded residence and art studio after a residential conversion in the 1990s

images of this Property

  • A two story former fire house addition in red brick with its southern wall mostly blank and looking rather raw and exposed. The west facade features a half round window on the first floor about the size of a garage door with a tri oof windows on the second floor, all with granite lintels and half round arch tops. The eastern facade features restangular windows and a newly added balcony. A heavy, deep cornice runs along the flat roof of the western, northern, and eastern walls.
    Firefighters pose with one of their engines outside the main portion of the Engine Company 8 building. This main portion was torn down in the 1990s. To the left can be seen the portion that remains — Providence Public Library Digital Collection, Rhode Island Photographs Collection, undated.
  • Looking down Harrison Street across the front of the four “lightning splitter” new construction homes. 38 Harrison facade in the background — PPS Architectural Slides Collection, undated (likely early 1990s as similar photos in the collection have a date of 1991)
  • Rendering of the proposed addition by Jack Ryan, Architect

9 images: Press to view larger or scroll sideways to see more. Providence Public Library Digital Collection, Rhode Island Photographs Collection and the PPS Architectural Slides Collection

About this Property

Redevelopment

In the early 1990s — as Harrison and Hammond Street saw revitalization by the Armory Revival Company — this firehouse annex was converted to three residential apartments. The front (west) of the ground floor was one apartment, the back (east) of the ground floor was also an apartment, and the second floor was one large apartment. Since then, the owners live upstairs and use the rear apartment as an art studio.

The ground floor has sixteen-foot six-inch ceilings which needs a long rise of stairs to access the second floor. The stairs are too narrow for a chair lift, and the owners are in need of such accessible accommodations.

A proposed (and approved) new entry structure set against the south wall of the fire station annex will provide a new entrance for all units, storage space, an elevator, and an additional bedroom and bath for the second floor apartment. Architect Jack Ryan designed the addition to be a geometric contrast to the main building. A large expanse of the south wall is blank, having been a party wall to the former fire station. It will now expand south will additional living space and access.

Current Events

The addition is approximately 18 feet by 26 feet with a height of 27 feet. It was approved for construction at a May 2024 meeting of the Providence Historic District Commission (PHDC) and construction started in the winter of 2024/2025.

History

The application to the PHDC included notes from the architect and a history of the previous renovation in the 1990s. We include it here for reference:

The Annex was originally built as an extension of a Victorian Firehouse demolished several years ago. The South elevation of the Annex shows the residual material and arched openings of its earlier use. Project specifications call for the cleaning and repair of the existing wall as well as the addition of a masonry facing to provide a finished appearance. Arched openings and the superimposition of line and color will be in keeping with the restoration.

The West facade and front of the Harrison St. Firehouse offers some sensitive brick detailing along with a beautiful asymmetrical pattern of arched doorways and windows. A close reading of the bottom photograph shows the large arched bands of brick that form two prominent doors. The project specifications call for the removal of the present brick infill to be replaced by large half round windows with a glass slider in the large opening, while the smaller will serve as the entry door for Unit B.

The description below says “an addition to the south has been removed” but we now understand the remaining building is a smaller portion of an annex that was added onto a larger fire station.

From the “Broadway-Armory Historic District” National Register nomination form, 1974

Hook & Ladder #2 and Atlantic Steamer #8 Fire Station (ca 1870): 2-story; flat; brick former fire station; with bracketed cornice, granite window sills, and arched windows and engine-door openings. Several openings are filled in, and an addition to the south has been removed. Currently vacant. (C)