J.P. Haskins Building

About this Property

#Redevelopment

We have been keeping an eye on this four and a half story brick mill building for some time — our first photo goes back to 2001. We’ve been hesitant to list the building in case we might give it negative attention. But it seems like the building has been cleaned up, with the brick potentially repointed (or at least power washed), the windows replaced (?), and the exterior walls devoid of graffiti.

We know someone who claims to have lived here a long time ago — and maybe still does. The building has been under the radar, and we hope we haven’t blown its cover. At any rate, it looks to be getting lots of new neighbors very soon.

#Current Events

Across Summer Street is a new residential development by Crossroads Rhode Island. We are unsure if the J.P. Haskins building is residential or not.

#History

From the “Industrial Sites and Commercial Buildings Survey (ICBS)” by PPS and RIHPHC, 2001-2002

A four-story, brick building embellished with a corbeled cornice, a stringcourse at the first floor level and decorative hoodmolds. Pedestrian entrances are located in each end bay of the building’s 11-bay facade. Fenestration consists of rectangular openings with multi-light sash windows. Small, rectangular 6/6 sash windows are located on the building’s south elevation. A two-story, flat-roof, brick building, noted on historic maps as a “factory building,” projects from the rear elevation of the four-story block. Fenestration on this block is comprised of rectangular, multi-light, fixed and awning sash and small 1/1 replacement sash on the first floor. Windows on the south elevation of this block has been replaced as evidence by a change in brick and smaller windows. A small, one-story, shed-roof brick ell projects from the southwest comer of the four-story block. This ell is noted as a “boiler room” on historic maps. A paved lot is located to the south, bound by a chain link fence.

The building was built by J[oseph] P. Haskins, a box manufacturer whose residence was located nearby [at 399 Pine Street]. The first occupant of the building was the Burdon Seamless Filled Wire Company. The company was founded by Levi Burdon and was reputed to have been the first firm to manufacture seamless gold- and silver-plated tubing for use in the manufacture of jewelry. Burdon designed the machinery for this process, which was installed in the building upon its completion. As the demand from the jewelry industry increased, so did the output of the company. By 1892, the company was producing 5,000 ounces of tubing and wire per day. Four years later the firm changed its name to the Burdon Wire and Supply Company, in order to reflect its expansion of products. The company merged with a Pawtucket firm in 1902 to become the United Wire and Supply Company. The business remained at this location until 1918. The 1919 map identifies the building’s occupant as the Universal Plate and Wire Company (first and second floors) and Wood Novelty Co. (third and fourth floors). Since that time the building has been occupied by several varied industries.

[Additions in brackets added from the RIHPHC South Providence report.]

From the RIHPHC survey of Providence Industrial Sites, July 1981

J. P. Haskins Building (1888): Built by J. P. Haskins, a box manufacturer whose factory was located nearby, the J. P .Haskins Building is a handsomely detailed 4-story brick factory with a corbeled cornice and window hoodmolds. The first occupant of the structure, the Burdon Seamless Filled Wire Company, founded by Levi Burdon, was the first company to manufacture seamless gold- and silver-plated tubing used by jewelry manufacturers. By 1892, the company was producing 5,000 ounces per day of tubing and wire which was in demand by the growing jewelry industry. In 1896 the company, which had expanded its product to plate stock of all kinds in addition to wire and tubing, changed the name of the firm to Burdon Wire and Supply Company. In 1902, it merged with a Pawtucket company to form the United Wire and Supply Company which operated until 1918.

Since 1918 the Burdon building has been occupied by several varied industries.

Maps

• 1899 Sanborn Insurance Map, Volume 1, Plate 50 (Page 59) — The building is present without the two-story addition off the western side. Labelled “J.P. Haskins Building Compound.” There is an underground shaft to a neighboring building to the southwest. To the west are lumber storage buildings and a cooper shop. The “A.A. Presbey & Son Co. Planining Mill & Box Facty” lays to the southwest as well.
• 1920–1921 Sanborn Insurance Map, Volume 1, Plate 50 (Page 61) — The building is now labelled “Universal Plate & Wire Company B. 1 & 2”, “Wood Novelty Fact’y 3 & 4”. Many of the surrounding wooden buildings have changed, like the lumber storage buildings, and small out-buildings have been added. No underground tunnel is on the map.
• 1920–1951 Sanborn Insurance Map, Volume 1, Plate 50 (Page 61) — Labelled “The Paramount Line, Inc. Mfg Greeting Cards”. The out-buildings are now in place as we see them now, with a two-story addition off the west side and a boiler and engine room off the southwestern wall.