Smith Webbing Company Weave Shed

About this Property

#Redevelopment

Story pieced together mostly from Providence Journal sources.

Central Paper opened in 1948 at 55 East Street in Pawtucket.¹ After they were denied a zoning request to expand their facility², they moved to 425 Fountain Street in Providence in 1959³. Ownership transferred in 1960 from father, Anthony, to son, Rudolph Perkowski.⁴

Between 1962 and 1964, Central Paper either moved from or started an additional location at 315 Harris Avenue in Providence. Ten years later, they moved from Providence to Pawtucket. They have been an owner of this former weave shed building since 1972:

The Central Paper Co., 315 Harris Ave., in an expansion move, has purchased the B. Flink Wholesale Foods warehouse on Glenwood Avenue in Pawtucket for $285,000, it was announced yesterday. Rudlof (sic.) Perkowski, president of Central Paper, said the move will give his company a building with 63,000 square feet of space, compared to the 20,000 it has now. “We’re expanding our operations,” he said. “We could not find adequate facilities in Providence.” […] The company distributes printing grade paper, such as stationery and envelopes, to printers and stationery stores in Rhode Island and in nearby Massachusetts and Connecticut.
— Providence Journal, November 4 1972 ⁵

According to a listing in the Providence Journal, Paperworks Inc. was incorporated September 10, 1982 with directors Rudolph and Virginia Perkowski.⁶ The family operated Central Paper as a wholesale and direct-to-resale business and opened Paperworks as a direct to consumer business.

#Current Events

The former weave shed is now a paper supply warehouse in two modes. The upper floor, which is the ground floor on the Pawtucket Avenue side, is the warehouse for distributor Central Paper. The basement, with entrance on the West Street side, is Paperworks, which is open to the public and offers warehouse prices for small and medium quantity paper quantities.

#History

From “Pawtucket Past and Present, being a brief account of the beginning and progress of its industries and a resume of the early history of the city,” by the Slater Trust Company, 1917

The Smith Webbing Company was incorporated in 1898. It has an equipment of 200 looms, and manufactures narrow fabrics. The officers are: Frank R. Parsons, president; Allan F. Grant, secretary; E. H. Parsons, treasurer.

A 1902 Sanborn Map shows no building at this location. The primary Smith Webbing building, however, is in place along Main Street (plate 33, page 40).

As a former industrial weave shed, the building features a prominent “saw-tooth” roof style where a repeating triangular roof design exposes windows to the northern sun and floods the floor below with natural light. Because light would come in from multiple locations, shadows on the work people were doing was reduced. It also saved money when electricity was new and relatively rare.

The building’s fenestration has rough-hewn granite for window sills with arched headers in brick. On the northwestern corner is a square-plan four-story tower with a flat roof and a decorative cornice. Most if not all openings have been blocked by brick or plywood.