From Dave Brigham:
* No actual floating was undertaken in pursuit of this and other posts about Fall River.
Rather than The Backside of America, I could easily have called this blog Ghosts of Times Past or Relics of Places Located Largely in the Eastern Third of Massachusetts (and Sometimes Elsewhere). I am drawn to the old mill towns of New England, and sometimes feel as though I spend too much time hunting down the old, the forgotten, the rusty, the broken-down.
But I find beauty everywhere I explore, in the patina, the hidden history, the faded glory, the hope, the rebirth. I try to find places that people overlook, buildings with stories to tell, sites that contrast original, anachronistic uses with new ways of thinking about the world. I admire the craftsmanship of the buildings, the boldness of chiseling a company or a person's name into the facade. I think of the talent that went into creating a painted advertisement on the side of a building, that 100 years later is still speaking, albeit in fading whispers, to passersby.
I love diners, old movie theaters and kitsch-filled bowling alleys, and I often research these types of places before exploring a given town or city. They make for great photography subjects, and they make me nostalgic for the times I spent in similar places when I was growing up in Connecticut in the 1970s and '80s.
Wow...what a long introduction to the third and final installment in my series about Fall River, Mass. (for the first two, check out this link and this one, too). This one spans some geographic distance, and featues several great old buildings in Fall River's downtown, among other sites.
Let's start at 1144 Pleasant Street, the former American Bakery Company building.
Built in 1934, this building appeared during my visit in February of this year to have been recently fixed up, with new windows at the very least. I believe the place was empty, although a contractor named True Brother, Inc., is listed at that address currently. As for American Bakery, I think it was a Missouri-based conglomerate that formed around the turn of last century.
Heading south-southeast along Pleasant Street, I felt obligated to chronicle another storefront church.
Iglesia Pentecostal Luz en Medio de Tinieblas (Pentecostal Church Light in the Midst of Darkness) is located in the Greany Building, which dates to 1891. Situated in the heart of the neighborhood known to old-timers as The Flint, the Greany Building has always contained a mix of ground-floor retail/business and upper-floor apartments.
At my furthest southeast point of this tour, I reached a diner that looks pretty good on the outside - with a rooftop display that will have sign enthusiasts hooting with pleasure - but one that unfortunately has been closed for some time.
Located on a triangular lot where Pleasant Street crosses Eastern Avenue, C.C.'s Nite Owl Diner is a circa-1956 DeRaffele Manufacturing model that replaced the truck-mounted Worcester Lunch Car No. 786, according to this Fall River Reporter article.
The Fall River landmark has been closed for years, but it may get reheated and brought back to life. "Antone Dias, representing owner Joseph Nasrallah, went in front of the Historical Commission Tuesday stating that Nasrallah is looking to sell or renovate the former Nite Owl Restaurant and get it on the Fall River Register as a significant and historic place before hopefully getting on the National Register," according to a March 20, 2024, Fall River Reporter article.
Fingers crossed.
Now we're heading back toward downtown. At the corner of Bedford and High streets is a former police station, the likes of which I haven't seen in this condition on my backside adventures.
Vacated in 1997, the building was acquired for $1.28 million in 2008, according to this Wicked Local article. The station was built in 1915; I'm assuming at some point it will be demolished and something shiny as a police badge will rise in its place.
Just before Bedford Street hits South Main Street, I spied a lovely old bank building.
Built in 1929, the Fall River Cooperative Bank rose the year after a devastating fire destroyed many buildings in the downtown area. MACRIS calls this building a "good example of the newly emerging Art Deco style," with "characteristic flat wall surfaces and low relief ornamentation." As you can see, this beauty is currently occupied by United Way of Greater Fall River.
On the corner of Bedford and North Main streets is the Classical Revival Burke Building.
Built in 1928, the building is currently home to two restaurants: breakfast joint Sheri's Place, and Dunny's BBQ.
A few doors down, heading north on North Main Street, is The Globe Building.
Dating to 1906, this Classical Revival building was originally home to Fall River Daily Globe Publishing Company. Subsequently, it housed Fall River Herald News Publishing. Currently, the site is occupied by a variety of small businesses.
Next is a much older building, the Italianate Old Red Bank, aka Fall River Savings Bank Building.
Built in 1869, the bank has a "boldly detailed facade with round-arched windows, cornice lintels, and name panel within the pediment" and "is typical of the best institutional building of its period," per MACRIS. The current tenant is a branch of Santander Bank.
Immediately to the north of Old Red Bank is the former Fall River Gas Works Company building.
Built in 1911, this Renaissance Revival building "has perhaps the best-articulated and best-preserved
classical revival facade," in the downtown area, according to MACRIS. It is currently occupied by RDA Insurance, which traces its roots to 1908.
Across a parking lot is 177 North Main Street, aka the Peirce Building.
I haven't found out much about this place, other than it was built around 1925 and is currently owned by the Fall River Community Housing Resource Board.
Continuing on the east side of North Main Street, I was happy to see a beautiful church break up the row of commercial buildings.
Completed in 1954 after years of planning and fundraising, the St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church was built in the Byzantine basilica style, per MACRIS.
Across North Main Street is the Quequechan Club.
Quequechan -- named for the nearby river -- was chartered in 1894 as a gentlemen's club, and members renovated an existing home for their playhouse. The twenty-five "prominent residents who formed the club represented the city's business and professional elite and included six chief executives of mills, six men otherwise engaged in the textile industry, three investment brokers, two lawyers, one physician and other community leaders," per MACRIS. The club didn't welcome unescorted women into the dining room until the 1970s, per Wikipedia.
The club, as you can imagine, was one of Fall River's most prestigious social clubs for more than 100 years. The club closed in 2012, but according to Wikipedia, the "club remains private and allows members to smoke inside the pub. The club has been reported to be haunted, and mediums and ghost hunters have visited the premises."
Zoinks!
Turning south along the west side of North Main (got that?), I had to make a photo of the Masonic Temple.
The Classical Revival building dates to 1922. A short walk south is the Durfee Block, which dates to 1887.
I like the suspended roof over the entryway, which I'm guessing used to be fancier. "The building was erected in 1887 for the B.M.C..Durfee
Trust Co. (originally the B.M.C. Durfee & Co.), chartered in 1870," according to MACRIS. "This firm was organized by John S. Brayton and his sister, Mary Brayton Young, the remarried widow of Fall River Iron Works founder Major Bradford Durfee. The bank was named for their son, B.M.C. Durfee, who was never involved in its operations. Historically, the bank was closely allied to the textile industry in financing the importation of cotton for thriving mills."
I was quite charmed by the ivy-covered building at 44-46 North Main Street.
This small Neoclassical building dates to 1915. I haven't found out much about its history, but MACRIS provides some architectural detail: "whiite glazed brick, cast stone trim...ground floor front is nearly original. There are slender corner columns with spiral neckbanding and Art Nouveau-inspired caps. Metal lintel, opaque glass transom." A separate MACRIS file dates this building to 1928. You choose....
Along South Main Street I got caught up in a conversation with a very nice but extremely talkative woman about what I was doing. I missed a few cool buildings as I tried to get ahead of her, but I didn't miss the Waldorf Building.
Built in 1922, it is "in harmony with the post-1916-fire character of the South Main Street shopping district," according to MACRIS. While the building was known at some point as the Nobby Building, it was built specifically for something called the Waldorf System, Inc.
So what is this system that echoes, but has no relation to, the Waldorf-Astoria? "Waldorf System, Inc., is a somewhat different chain of restaurants. Its 83 cafeterias, drive-ins and pancake houses in eight states lean heavily on self-service eateries in poor locations, offer such dishes as hash and an egg for 65¢," according to this May 21, 1965 Time magazine article. The company merged with a competitor named Restaurant Associates. That company still exists, and functions as an "on-site dining management company."
That's all pretty cool. I've never come across a former self-service cafeteria before.
My final stop in Fall River was Rock-n-Roll Avenue.
Located on Rodman Street, PearTree Studios is obviously operated by a Beatles fan, as evidenced by the tribute to the band's Abbey Road album cover seen below.
(Likenesses of Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr outside the studio. George and John are also featured, of course.)
Whereas the Fab Four had/have Apple Corps. as their corporate entity, the folks behind this studio went with a different fruit. Artists that have recorded at PearTree include The Buggies, Sionide and The Craft.
I hope to return to Fall River soon to check out other parts of the city.
