Reimangined Mills
In Lawrence, Massachusetts, the oldest mill in the city has been transformed into affordable and energy-efficient housing.
By Alexandra Pecci
When the Essex Company Machine Shop was constructed in the late 1840s, it represented the height of innovation and progress. It was not only one of the first industrial buildings erected in what would be become Lawrence, Massachusetts, but was an engine and symbol of the Industrial Revolution, harnessing electricity generated by the Merrimack River and propelling Lawrence into a global powerhouse of industry.
Now, after sitting nearly vacant for years, Essex Company Machine Shop is once again at the forefront of innovation and an electric-powered future thanks to Stone Mill Lofts, which turned the almost 200-year-old mill building into an energy-efficient, all-electric, affordable apartment community.
“Even in the 1850s, they were thinking about sustainable energy,” says Scott Maenpaa, who worked on the Stone Mill Lofts as its lead designer and project manager for the Chelsea, Massachusetts-based firm, The Architectural Team. “It’s great to be able to preserve that history.”
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