Category:Shepard Company Building

English: The Shepard Company Building located at 255 Westminster Street and running between Union and Clemence Streets to Washington Street in downtown Providence, Rhode Island was the site of Shepard's, which became the most prestigious department store in Providence. It was initially a single three-story Italianate building at the corner of Clemence and Washington constructed in the 1870s, and expanded in 1880, and 1885. In 1895, Martin & Hall began supervising the design of a major expansion, visual unification and modernization which was mostly completed by 1903, and included the two arched entrances at Union and Westminster and Union and Washington. The sidewalk clock on Westminster Street was a local landmark and meeting place.

Shepard's closed in 1974 and remained vacant for almost 20 years. In the early 90s, the Providence Preservation Society held meetings to help determine the building's future. From this came the decision for the University of Rhode Island to move its Providence Campus to the building. The 1996 rehabilitation was designed by David Presbrey, and included another sidewalk clock on Washington Street, this one more fanciful. The building is now owned by the state and houses not only URI's Feinstein Campus, but the secondary Providence Campus of the Community College of Rhode Island, Computer Science for Rhode Island (CS4RI), the Rhode Island Department of Education, and other state offices, (Sources: Guide to Providence Architecture, other misc) The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 and is a contributing property to the Downtown Providence Historic District.