Jewelry designer Sara Bella moving into old Grand Manor in Pawtucket

THE OLD GRAND MANOR in Pawtucket, once home to the children's museum, has been sold to a jewelry design company, Sara Bella Jewelry Inc. / COURTESY GOOGLE MAPS
THE OLD GRAND MANOR in Pawtucket, once home to the children's museum, has been sold to a jewelry design company, Sara Bella Jewelry Inc. / COURTESY GOOGLE MAPS

PAWTUCKET – A costume jewelry design company will soon move into the old Grand Manor house at 58 Walcott St., bringing with it 20 employees from Smithfield.
With its location overlooking Interstate 95, Darlene M. Brien, president, CEO and creative director of Sara Bella Jewelry Inc., said she couldn’t ask for a “better billboard.”
“It’s going to stand out. It will be beautiful and tasteful,” Brien said this week.
Brien closed on the 1841 building in the Quality Hill neighborhood on Monday, buying it for $500,000 from Edith Marra, who originally listed it for $795,000.
Brien said the 6,275-square-foot Victorian-style building was just what she was looking for – “I walked in and it was just unbelievable. It spoke to me.”
Vacant for five years, the building is in the process of undergoing improvements. Brien said she plans to move her design team in starting Jan. 2. It is the former home of the children’s museum, before it left for a new location in Providence.
The building, which has a 2,000-square-foot carriage house, is also known as the Pitcher-Goff House. It was built for the successful Pawtucket manufacturer Ellis Pitcher.
Brien said the design team makes jewelry collections for retailers such as Nordstrom. Manufacturing is done in China, she said. Brien said she will be hiring more employees as needed. She previously rented space at Lark Industrial Park in Smithfield.
She praised Herb Weiss, economic and cultural affairs officer for the city, for helping her find the location. She began looking in Pawtucket after a business contact suggested the city.
Weiss said he worked with the owners of Sara Bella for a year and a half to find the right location. He said initially, they looked at old mills, noting the city’s focus on reusing the structures for arts and creative spaces.
“They were attracted to us by what we were able to accomplish over the years … We couldn’t find a mill (for them), but we found the next best thing, an iconic Victorian home that will now be their home,” Weiss said Wednesday.

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