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The diner was originally going to be made into scrap by Feldco as they redeveloped Eagle Square, but members of the American Diner Museum volunteered to help take it off their hands intact. After being posted on the American Diner Museum website, they found a buyer. It was moved intact from its original site in on Atwells Avenue to an undetermined site on Westminister street. We are told by some that John Ozbeck owns the dining car and will be restoring it and putting it into use, but that has not been confirmed.

History

Poirier’s Diner (original owner) is a classic example of the 1947 Kullman “Challenger Model” diner unit with glass brick flanking the front doors and corners and exterior blue fluted porcelain enamel panels.

Original seating accommodated approximately 58 customers with 36 booth seats and 22 counter stools. The diner contains original tile floors, walls, and counter apron, porcelain clad sheet metal ceiling panels (light blue and cream). The interior and exterior porcelain enamel has been painted with white latex house paint. Many of the original stools remain as well as sections of the back bar, grill hood and stainless steel refrigerator. All booth seating is included but the original table tops and legs are missing.

Poirier’s Diner is a prefabricated dining car, manufactured in 1947 by the Kullman Dining Car Company of New Jersey, still in operation today as Kullman Industries. Poirier’s is one of only two intact Kullmans in Rhode Island; the other is the Silver Top Diner, now in Pawtucket. Poirier’s is a Challenger model built with a wood and steel frame. It has a Moderne design, with characteristic streamlined design and industrial materials. The exterior features porcelain enamel panels, rounded glass-block corners, stainless steel trim, and steel-framed windows, topped by a monitor roof. Inside, similar materials reappear—porcelain enamel panels and stainless steel panels and furniture—complemented with ceramic tile, mirrored glass, stainless steel stools, and Formica countertops.

In 1947, Kullman shipped the diner from New Jersey to 579-581 Atwells Avenue, near the corner of Eagle Street in Providence. Joseph A. Poirier Jr. operated the diner from 1947 to 1955, when it came under a rapid succession of owners. A new chapter began in 1961, when new owners renamed the facility “Squire’s Diner.” More changes in name and ownership took place over the following decades as “Squire’s” gave way to “Arnold’s Diner,” the “Top Hat,” “Krystal’s,” and ultimately “El Faro,” and the list of owners reflected the changing ethnic makeup of the city. In 2002, the diner was moved to its present location on Westminster Street, where its owner intends to restore it and return it to use as a restaurant.

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