Crescent Brass and Pin Company Building facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Crescent Brass and Pin Company Building
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| Location | 5766 Trumbull St., Detroit, Michigan |
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| Built | 1905 |
| Architect | Rogers and MacFarlane |
| NRHP reference No. | 03000067 |
| Added to NRHP | March 3, 2003 |
The Crescent Brass and Pin Company Building is a historic building in Detroit, Michigan. You can find it at 5766 Trumbull Street. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. Today, it's known as the Research Lofts on Trumbull.
Contents
Building's Story
From Idea to Nails
The story of this building began in 1886. A man named Alvin W. Needham invented a special machine. This machine could make nails for cigar boxes. He teamed up with two brothers, John and William Gray. The Gray brothers owned a business that built carriages.
Together, they started a company called Empire Wire Nail Company. They made nails right in John Gray's barn on Trumbull Street.
New Inventions and Growth
Soon, Needham invented another machine. This one made "chaplets." Chaplets are small metal parts used in factories. They help hold things in place when molten metal is poured into a mold. Making chaplets turned out to be more profitable than making nails. So, the company slowly started focusing on chaplets.
The business stayed in John Gray's barn until 1897. Then, it moved to a building on Adams Street. This building was where the Gray brothers had their carriage business. At this time, Needham sold his share of the company to the Gray brothers. The company's name changed to Crescent Machine Co.
The company grew quickly. The Gray brothers began working full-time at Crescent. By 1905, they needed an even bigger space. They built a new building on Trumbull Street, just north of John Gray's property. A few years later, they started making plumbing supplies too. The company changed its name again to Crescent Brass & Pin Company.
Changes Over Time
Crescent Brass & Pin Company made many different products. But nails and chaplets remained their main business. The company stayed at the Trumbull Street location until 1958. Due to some challenges, they moved their main operations to Americus, Georgia. They renamed that part of the company Simplex Nails, Inc.
Some manufacturing did return to the Detroit plant later. However, the Detroit operations never fully recovered. Crescent stopped manufacturing in Detroit in 1984. They donated the building to the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul.
A New Life as Lofts
In September 2001, a company called 5766 Trumbull LLC bought the building. Their plan was to turn the old factory into affordable apartments. Construction began in the spring of 2005. They added a third floor to the original two-story building. The whole building was renovated into 35 loft apartments.
In October 2006, the first new resident moved in. The building was given a new name: Research Lofts on Trumbull.
How the Building Was Made
Original Design
The original building was designed in 1905. A Detroit architecture firm called Rogers and MacFarlane created the plans. This building is a great example of "timber frame mill construction." This was a popular way to build factories in Michigan in the early 1900s.
This type of construction used large wooden posts and beams. This created big, open spaces inside. These spaces were perfect for large machines. The strong posts and exposed floor joists were also designed to slow down fires. They made it easier to spot fires quickly by not having hidden spaces where flames could spread.
Later Additions
The building was made bigger several times. The first addition was in 1916. More additions followed in 1917, 1924, and the early 1950s. These newer parts of the building were built using "reinforced concrete." This shows how industrial building styles changed during the first half of the 20th century.
