State Board of Elections

About this Property

#Last Tenant

Previous to this building’s construction in 1928, the land was occupied by a few one and a half and two story wood-frame dwellings. Number 50 Branch Avenue was listed as the address for The White Company, which ran a number of advertisements for trucks and “autocars” throughout the 1930s Evening Bulletin. The ads stopped at the May 25, 1941 edition with a call for a “Young man for parts department.”¹

It is apparent through later articles that the existing building was originally constructed as a showroom for The White Motor Company. It makes sense, architecturally, as the building is very similar in layout and construction to the neighboring Autocar and Studebaker Trucks facility. Both have street-facing showroom entrance buildings, with a lower portion built into the hill behind them.

The first mention of “50 Branch Avenue” in relation to the State Board of Elections comes in the October 26, 1942 Providence Evening Bulletin.² Later, in the February 19, 1943 edition, a story about the purchase of the building reads:

The State today moved toward the purchase of the building at 50 Branch Avenue now occupied by the State Board of Elections, on rent from the White Motor Co. Gov. J. Howard McGrath caused a resolution to be introduced into the General Assembly appropriating $60,000 for the purchase. […] The Governor said the state had been paying $675 a month rent for the place. […] He said the State had an option to buy it […] ³

While the building and board conducted important matters, the building itself fell into disrepair like many state buildings. In 1981, Chairman Joseph R. DiStefano lobbied for and won $120,000 to repair the interior of the building. The news story described asbestos plaster falling from the ceiling onto desks, rat poison, peeling paint, and a lack of lights when conducting recounts.⁴

The State continued to occupy it as the home of the Board of Elections until 2019 when the Board and its collection of voting machines moved from individual facilities into one unified location in Cranston.⁵ The State posted this property for sale.

In 2022, a proposal to convert the property to a self-storage facility gained preliminary approval. There were architectural plans which included saving a portion of the brick facade but erecting a five-story storage warehouse on most of the land, including the parking lot to the west.

Though the plans were preliminarily approved by the City Plan Commission, shortly after the City Council considered and then passed a ban on new construction of self-storage facilities.⁶ Council members went on record as concerned about land use in the City, saying that the need for housing was far greater than the need for storage space.

Architecture

The building’s facade along Branch Avenue is asymmetrical in plan with a group of two windows, a door, and two windows on the eastern side of the elevation and another single door entrance, a former garage door entrance, a small window, and a larger commercial plate glass window on the western side. Red brick is used throughout with rectangular openings and a flat parapet roofline that steps up slightly around the garage door opening.

Most windows have been completely bricked up. Where newer windows have been added, they are roughly half the size of the opening. The effect makes the building seem drab, cold, and foreboding, like it is hiding secrets. If the window openings were restored, the building would instantly look like a classic 1920s commercial storefront.

The street-front portion is about 18 feet deep and then the rear portion begins. Another one-story storage building comes off the rear on the western side and continues for another 30 feet. A garage door entrance is on the far western corner. Again, many of the window openings on this portion are bricked up.

#Current Events

Since the ban on storage facilities, no new plans have come forward for this property.

#In the News

1,400-unit Providence self storage complex on Branch Ave. gets preliminary approval

by Wheeler Cowperthwaite
Providence Journal | May 18, 2023 (abridged)

A 1,400-unit self storage complex slated for the former elections bureau building at 50 Branch Ave. is poised to move forward after receiving preliminary approval from the Providence City Plan Commission.

The Plan Commission, on Tuesday night, delegated the last stage of the approval process, the final plan, to city staff. The only major changes to the master plan, approved in February, were more windows on the sides of the new building. Those changes were made in response to comments by Commissioner Noel Sanchez that the self-storage complex Store Space Self Storage across Interstate 95 at 145 Corliss St. “is a wall” when viewed from the highway. […]

From the earlier February story, also by Wheeler Cowperthwaite:

[…] Attorney Joseph Brennan said the site, 50 Branch Ave., was chosen by developer Trunk Space LLC of Quincy, Massachusetts, because of the location. The biggest neighbors are the North Burial Ground, the Dryden Mill strip mall and other businesses. No one lives nearby. The location also means high visibility on Branch Avenue and Route 95. […]

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Why RI Can’t Stop Building Self-Storage

by Tom Mooney
Providence Journal | May 23, 2023 (abridged)

“At the end of the world, everyone says there will only be Twinkies and cockroaches left,” says Courtney Kahler, “and I’ve added self-storage to that. It’s an indestructible industry.”

It’s the second day of the annual trade show of the Northeast Self Storage Association (who knew?), taking place in the carpeted ballrooms at the MGM Casino, one floor above the gaming tables.

Kahler, the executive director of the 325-member organization, sits at the registration table greeting morning attendees, many of them self-storage entrepreneurs who know they hold a winning business hand.

Their ace in the hole, the one certainty fueling a proliferation of self-storage facilities across the country?

“People do not want to get rid of their stuff,” says Kahler. “It’s a phenomenon.”

About 51,200 storage facilities are now operating in the United States. That’s more than twice the number of Subway sandwich shops, says industry tracker StorageCafe.com. Enough new facilities were approved just last year to cover all 843 acres of New York’s Central Park.

StorageCafe.com says 1 in 5 Americans are now using a self-storage unit (the most common item stored is furniture), though other industry trackers say the figure is more like 1 in 10 Americans. Still, that’s a lot of storage.

The industry’s expansion has met some resistance in recent years. Communities from Milford, Connecticut, to Vancouver, Washington, have placed moratoriums or zoning restrictions on new self-storage unit facilities, with nearby Worcester joining that list last month.

In Providence, which has 17 operating or in-the-works self-storage facilities, some City Council members are calling for a moratorium and questioning whether the land might be used for housing instead of sprawling metal squares.

“What we’re seeing is this industry … gobbling up a lot of land that, in our opinion, should be used for other purposes,” said Councilman Miguel Sanchez last month.

The Northeast Self Storage Association represents businesses in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island, which host about 100 to 125 storage facilities, the association says.

Accessed January 2, 2026 from https://www.providencejournal.com/story/news/local/2023/05/11/self-storage-facility-boom-raising-concerns-in-ri-and-across-country/70190896007/

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Providence bans future development of self-storage warehouses

by Sarah Bawden
WPRI | Jul 21, 2023 (abridged)

It appears the last self-storage facility has been built in the capital city.

The Providence City Council banned the future development of self-storage warehouses Thursday night in favor of affordable housing.

Councilman Miguel Sanchez said the city council’s overall goal is to “house people, not things.”

“Land is scarce in Providence and what little there is has been grabbed up by the self-storage industry,” Sanchez said. “The council has committed to moving away from these types of development projects and fully embracing efforts to build affordable housing.”

Accessed January 2, 2026 from https://www.wpri.com/news/local-news/providence/providence-bans-future-development-of-self-storage-warehouses/