Miss Lorraine Diner
Donwell’s Diner
Type
Retail/Commercial
Location
Pawtucket, Rhode Island
Built
1941
Developer
Project Partners
Jonathan Savage
Project partners
Abby Road Construction (Joe Pacheco)
Clark Schoettle
Richard Gutman
Alan Sousa
Tony Ferreira
Fred Rybka
Richard Amato
PROJECT OVERVIEW
The Miss Lorraine Diner is a rehabilitated, prefabricated, semi-streamliner diner that was manufactured in 1941 as No. 774 by the Worcester Lunch Car Company. Developer and owner Jonathan Savage had the semi-streamliner moved to its current location and worked with Joe Pacheco of Abby Road Construction, Clark Schoettle, architectural historian, and Richard Gutman, author of American Diner Then and Now, to restore and replicate the diner’s unique original details. Ryan’s Historic Tax Credits team prepared the National Register listed and helped secure $350,000 in federal and state historic tax credits for the $1 million rehabilitation.
In 2013, Jonathan Savage bought the diner, vacant since 1997, and moved it to its current Pawtucket location. Savage incorporated the diner’s restoration into his ongoing refurbishment of the circa 1868 Lorraine Mills textile manufacturing complex. Today, Lorraine Mills acts as affordable live/work spaces for a variety of artists, dancers, designers, and creatives. In addition to the Miss Lorraine Diner, the multiuse complex is home to 140 small businesses, including the Pawtucket Arts Collaborative, Mixed Magic Theatre, Wage House Improv Comedy Theatre, Whisk Me Away, Crooked Current Brewery, and White Dog Distillery.
AWARDS
- Preserve Rhode Island and Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission | 2020 Rhody Award
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Headquarters
1400 16th Street NW Suite 420 Washington, DC 20036
(202) 483-2020
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