Recent Events

I saw this building coming down in late April. Passers-by on the street said it had been coming down for a week or two. The worst part is that it looked like it hadn’t been cleaned out, all the furniture was still in there. Could have been some cool stuff, but we’ll never know.

This building had been sitting on Eddy Street near the Herff/Jones building for at least four years now... and that is only since I have noticed it. A flat front building with a long facade, the space inside (under the bridge) is actually more like a courtyard, with the building wrapping around you. The depth of the building musn't be more than 40 feet.

Handy & Harman Co., current owners, manufacture solder and other specialty metal products. Improved Laminated Metals was a division or acquisition. It's possible that H&H may not now actually own
the site and is only a legacy owner who has environmental responsibility, we're not sure. They were trying to find a buyer as far back as 1999. At that time a group of artists was negotiating for purchase or lease, but nothing seems to have come of it.

The building was essentially sound, with a few roof leaks, as one would expect with no occupancy or maintenance for many years. It is completely trashed inside, particularly the offices. The place has had a long hard life and has taken a real beating apparently, but seems fairly sound and intact nonetheless, including 19th c. elevators, and an ancient boiler made by the Almy Co. of Providence. The building needs a total restoration which no doubt has kept away the buyers.

We are not sure what Laminated Metal did at one time, or why exactly the building was vacant with a relatively new building right beside it. There obviously used to be a structure south of it that abutted the building where there is now a parking lot. As far as contributing to the character of the area, right now, it made Eddy Street look even more dismal, being not far from the Eddy Street Episcopal Church and other smaller derelict sites.

Anecdotes

Al Richmond  I worked at improved laminated metals from around the end of 1967 until January of 1972. I was a full time student at Bryant College and worked on either the second or third shift. While I was there they made products for the Spidel Twist o flex and for T.V. tuners. As I recall it was a very good place to work with an older work force. At the time I was the youngest shop employee. It is too bad to see what happened to the place.

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