Any 150-year-old building still standing is bound to have a storied history, and the Kendrick-Prentice-Tirocchi House, locally known as the "Wedding Cake House" in Providence, is no exception.
The Italianate-style mansion at 514 Broadway St. on Federal Hill was first built as a home for John Kendrick, a manufacturer of loom harnesses in the 19th century, but its history is also notably intertwined with women-run businesses.
The Dirt Palace, a feminist arts-based organization, is continuing the trend, and in February received approval to buy the now-deteriorating building for $250,000. The nonprofit plans to rehabilitate the building for an estimated $500,000, and turn it into eight short-term rental units for visiting artists, art supporters and patrons.
"It is our goal for this project to become a site that connects the dots between the region's history of design and textile manufacturing and current practices in arts and design fields, to ground innovation and creative entrepreneurship in a historical context, and develop the case for understanding Rhode Island as [a] place steeped in design thinking and visionary approaches," said Xander Marro, artist and co-founder of the Dirt Palace.
Proceeds from the Wedding Cake House will help subsidize the Dirt Palace's other programs, which include providing women artists with studio space, facilities, shared resources and other arts-related amenities. The organization has served 50 women artists over the last 16 years. Seven resident artists currently live and work at the Dirt Palace's headquarters in the Olneyville neighborhood adjacent to Federal Hill.
Pippi Zornoza, Dirt Palace co-founder, said the idea for buying the Wedding Cake House first came when the city suggested they check out properties owned by the Providence Redevelopment Agency. The house was in its inventory, and had long been in Zornoza's and Marro's minds.
"We used to always joke that the Wedding Cake House, because it was so ornate and just aesthetically resonated with us, was ‘the real Dirt Palace,' " Zornoza said. "It clicked pretty much right away once we were inside that we could, and should, rehab this property."
Women running commercial operations in the Wedding Cake House is a trend that started in 1915, when Anna Tirocchi and Laura Tirocchi Cella moved their design and dressmaking company, A. & L. Tirocchi, into the second and third floors.
"The third floor served as the workshop where the ‘girls,' as they were called, fabricated, decorated, beaded, altered and tailored the clothing to the desires of the clientele," according to the Providence Preservation Society.
"A. & L. Tirocchi employed women from thriving Italian-American families. For these young women, the sewing rooms were ‘safe areas,' where women were sheltered from exploitation and bad behavior and were under the supervision of two female members of their own community," according to PPS.
The Dirt Palace, on the other hand, aims to "create an environment conducive to challenging thoughts and radical actions in order to cultivate our personal growth as individuals and to foster the development of strong, thoughtful, independent women who use their creative awareness of the world to change it," according to the group.
The historic Federal Hill neighborhood along Broadway Street, where the Wedding Cake House is located, is home to an ever-growing arts scene. Funky, independent art shops, vintage stores and coffee shops are popping up, and the aged housing stock fits the vibe.
"Old buildings are amazing. Our current facility in Olneyville was built in 1890. As artists and craftspeople, we have so much admiration for the way things from that era were built," Marro said.
The group, which aims to open its doors in a year and a half, hopes the Wedding Cake House can help other art entities, including the Rhode Island School of Design, the Steel Yard, AS220 and Trinity Repertory Co. The organizations, according to the group, bring visiting artists to the state but don't always have space to house them.
"I anticipate it becomes a destination for artists looking to temporarily inhabit the facilities and to create work in that space," said Randall Rosenbaum, executive director of the R.I. State Council on the Arts. The council approved a $250,000 grant for the Dirt Palace, which will be used for some of the rehab costs.
"It's exciting to have a clear vision for not only the restoration of a historic building, but also for its cultural uses," Rosenbaum added.
The PPS named the Wedding Cake House to its "Most Endangered Properties List" in 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2016. The running list focuses on properties that if left to deteriorate or be demolished would erode the city's "historic urban character."
The house, however, isn't included on the 2017 list, as Brent Runyon, PPS executive director, says he's confident the house is now in good hands.
"The Dirt Palace is an organization headed up by women who have a ‘do-it-yourself,' resourceful mode of creating space that works," Runyon said. •