American Brewing Company Plant

American Brewing Company Plant
Location 431 Harris Ave. Providence, Rhode Island
Coordinates 41°49′29″N 71°26′6″W / 41.82472°N 71.43500°W / 41.82472; -71.43500Coordinates: 41°49′29″N 71°26′6″W / 41.82472°N 71.43500°W / 41.82472; -71.43500
Built 1892 (1892)
Architect Wagner, Adam C.
Architectural style Beaux Arts
NRHP Reference # 16000395[1]
Added to NRHP June 21, 2016
Detail

The American Brewing Company Plant is a historic beer brewery complex at 431 Harris Avenue in Providence, Rhode Island. Developed between 1892 and 1922, it is a well-preserved example of a state-of-the-art late 19th century brewery building, its original functions still discernible in its layout. It was only used as a brewery until 1922, when it was shut down by Prohibition, and has served for most of the time since as a warehouse and storage facility. The complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.[1]

Description and history

The American Brewing Company Plant is located in Providence's Federal Hill neighborhood, at the northeast corner of Harris Avenue and Eagle Street. The principal building of the plant is a three story masonry building, built out of brick with stone trim. Decorative features include round-arched windows set in recessed panels, a rusticated stone stringcourse between the first and second floors, and brick piers with corbelling separating some of the windows at the upper levels. This building was designed by Adam Wagner, a well-known designer of breweries, and was built in 1892. Also on the property are a c. 1900 ice house and a 1911 boiler house, and several modern garages. In the interior of the building, mostly used as a warehouse, the order of operations of large-scale beer brewing, from fermentation, to storage and settling, to bottling, are still evident.[2]

The brewery was founded in 1892 by James Hanley, an Irish immigrant, and featured state-of-the-art modern facilities of the period, including the installation of two industrial-scale climate control systems, needed to control temperatures for the lagering of beer. It is the only industrial-scale brewery of the period to survive in the state, and is one of only a few surviving designs of Adam Wagner. The brewery was operated only until 1922, when it closed as a consequence of Prohibition. In 1936, the property was adapted for use as a warehouse and storage facility, in which use it continued until 2005.[2]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 National Park Service (2007-01-23). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  2. 1 2 "NRHP nomination for American Brewing Company Plant" (PDF). Rhode Island Preservation. Retrieved 2016-07-08.
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