The Mechanical Fabric Company is a historic factory complex on Cromwell and Sprague Streets in the West End neighborhood of Providence, Rhode Island.
The complex consists of six brick buildings, arranged in roughly parallel rows in a city block bounded by Cromwell, Sprague, and Dexter Streets, and Elmwood Avenue. They were built between 1891 and about 1925. The Mechanical Fabric Company was a major player in the city's rubber industry, and was particularly notable as the site of innovations in the development and manufacture of pneumatic bicycle tires. [2]
The complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014. [1]
The former mill space was renovated to include several businesses. The larger building at 55 Cromwell Street has been rebranded as "Rooms & Works." [3] It was briefly home to a food incubator, and in 2019 a local gourmet doughnut company moved in with a 5,000 square foot commercial kitchen. [3] Also in 2019, the former mill building at 40R Sprague Street welcomed a two-level, 3,500-square-foot bar and brewery. [4]
Three-year-old Knead [donuts] has relocated all of its production ... to the 5,000-square-foot commercial kitchen space ... located at 55 Cromwell St., in a former factory complex now known as Rooms & Works
The brewery's 3,500-square-foot new location opened this week in the renovated Mechanical Fabric Company factory complex on the West End.