The Hay and Owen Buildings are a pair of historic commercial buildings in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...

, United States. The Owen Building (101 Dyer Street) was built in 1866 as two buildings, with a narrow alley running between them. They were designed by Alfred Stone for George and Smith Owen (G. & S. Owen), whose sons operated a wholesale yarn business on the premises. In 1877 Stone, as Stone & Carpenter, returned to remodel the buildings. The southern part, a four-story, nine-bay building, remained as it was built in 1866. In contrast, the northern part was radically changed. It was extended to meet the southern part, and a new fifth floor was added. A great deal of new ornamentation was also added at this time. Thus, the plural Owen Buildings became the Owen Building. The two parts originally met in the same way on both the east and west elevations. The original design remains on the west, but the east side was filled in with a flat brick wall sometime between 1918 and 1937.''Plat Book of the City of Providence, Rhode Island''. 1937. The Hay Building (117-135 Dyer Street) is a four-story structure, built in 1867 for Alexander Duncan, as a speculative business venture. It was designed by

James C. Bucklin James C. Bucklin (1801-1890) was an American architect working in Providence, Rhode Island. Life and career Bucklin was born on 26 July 1801, in a part of Rehoboth, Massachusetts, Rehoboth that is now part of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, to James an ...

. The Hay Building was formerly the Hay Buildings, as a matching structure once stood on the parking lot behind the building. Despite its mansard roof, the otherwise plain design of the building recalls Bucklin's earlier

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...

designs. The two buildings are survivors of the era when the Weybosset Hill area was a center of Providence's commercial port. The buildings were listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1982.

Gallery

File:Hay Buildings, Providence, RI.jpg, Hay Buildings File:Capriccio Providence RI.jpg, The Owen Building

References

Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Rhode Island Commercial buildings completed in 1866 Commercial buildings completed in 1867 Buildings and structures in Providence, Rhode Island Second Empire architecture in Rhode Island 1867 establishments in Rhode Island National Register of Historic Places in Providence, Rhode Island {{ProvidenceRI-struct-stub

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See also

References