Do you remember Shepard’s Department Store?
At the corner of Westminster and Union Streets in Downtown Providence stands the Shepard Company Building, a hulking reminder of the late 19th and early 20th century dominance of the department store and the American downtown as a retail destination. The company opened in 1880 in a modest 6,400-square-foot storefront, and saw immediate success, eventually occupying an entire city block. The company grew piecemeal into neighboring buildings between 1880-1903 when the entire 300,000+ square foot block was completed from plans by Martin & Hall, architects. Architecturally, the building tells its own history in layers: it started as a modest three-story Italianate structure, and later additions brought two-story arched entrances angled into the corners at Westminster and Union, and Washington and Union, that once lured shoppers inside to terrazzo floors with a sea of merchandise. Outside, a freestanding cast-iron clock became a beloved meeting point, with generations of Rhode Islanders arranging to gather “at the clock”. A massive fire in March 1923, caused over one million dollars’ worth of damage, but the structure was restored under Hall’s supervision. Shepard’s closed in 1974 and remained vacant for almost 20 years. After advocacy from preservationists, the building was bought by the State of Rhode Island and was rehabilitated by David Presbrey, the building is now the location of the Providence Campus of the University of Rhode Island, the Rhode Island Department of Education, and other state offices and education-related facilities.
