1879 - Honan Block - Woonsocket, Rhode Island
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N 42° 00.127 W 071° 30.885
19T E 291734 N 4653071
Distinctive as one of only about a dozen full-cast-iron-fronted buildings in the state and the only known example in the city, the Late Victorian 1879 Honan Block, with its well-preserved Eastlake ornamentation, stands in Woonsocket, Rhode Island.
Waymark Code: WM14H4Y
Location: Rhode Island, United States
Date Posted: 07/08/2021
Views: 0
Distinctive as one of only about a dozen full-cast-iron-fronted buildings in the state and the only known example in the city, the Late Victorian 1879 Honan Block, with its well-preserved Eastlake style ornamentation, stands on Main Street in Woonsocket, Rhode Island.
This three-story commercial building had its street level altered in the 1938/39 time frame with the addition of a modern, projecting storefront. However, it is the upper two floors that make this structure a standout, especially the bold blue with golden yellow highlights paint scheme. Three bays of segmented and arched windows puncture the Main Street façade. An exceptionally large window opening on the third floor's southwest side (Ascension Street) is significant, and, if not original, then from the building's earliest days, because it appears to have ties to a photography studio. This is historically significant because the space is "a valuable record of the technological requirements of commercial photography in the late 1870s."
A variety of commercial and retail tenants have occupied the building throughout the decades including: several photographers, a hat shop, shoe stores, a doctor, a barber, a dress maker, a jeweler, a saloon in the basement, and, in the late 1920s, Woonsocket Trust Bank.
Works Cited: National Register of Historic Places, Honan's Block and 112-114 Main Street
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