Weird Island

11. THE PYRAMID OF PAWTUCKET: Apex Department Store

Episode Summary

The iconic Apex pyramid can be easily seen from the highway. Thousands of people drive by it every day, but most Rhode Islanders have no idea that the building isn’t abandoned--Apex is still operating it’s last remaining department store out of the building today! If you haven’t seen it, click through to the episode notes and check out "The Ugliest Buildings in Every US State", but make up your own mind on whether it’s hideous or magical. To Visit: 100 Main St, Pawtucket, RI 02860

Episode Notes

Episode Source Material: 

• The Ugliest Buildings in Every US State
• Images: Apex
• About Apex
• Apex Department Store
• My Turn: Catherine W. Zipf: Mass. gets Pawsox; R.I. keeps Apex
• The Apex Companies
• The Apex of Potential 
• He Saw Start, Now End for Apex
• At Apex, history of inaction leads to next step
• ‘A false narrative’: Apex owners file new lawsuit in eminent domain fight
• $400M Pawtucket soccer project unveils new look without plans for Apex
• Pawtucket Moves to Enable Use of Eminent Domain for Apex Site
• Pawtucket moves toward seizing Apex property
• Reddit Comments: Here, Here, and Here

Andrew Geller / Raymond Loewy 

• Andrew Geller
• ANDREW GELLER: Architect of Happiness, 1924-2011
• Raymond Loewy
• Meet the Product Designer Who Made Mid-Century America Look Clean and Stylish

Downtown Pawtucket

• Downtown​ ​Pawtucket​ ​Tour
• Slater Mill Book
• PDDP Volume 1 : Existing Conditions Report by Thurlow Small Architecture - issuu
• Maps Show How Tearing Down City Slums Displaced Thousands
• History of the Interstate Highway System - 50th Anniversary - Interstate System - Highway History. 

Episode Transcription

• Hi! You’re listening to Weird Island, and I’m your host, Sara. Each week I’ll be telling you about the strangest stories I can dig up, from my tiny little state of Rhode Island. This week, you’ll probably recognize the attraction I’m talking about. It’s one of the most iconic sights you’ll see as you drive into Providence. And, no, it’s not the big blue bug. It’s the Apex Building! 
• I’m going to tell you something about the Apex Building you probably didn’t know. It is still open. You can go in there and buy a pair of jeans or a t-shirt from the Apex Department Store, if you’d like to. If this doesn’t absolutely blow your mind, then either you’ve lost all sense of wonder or you’ve never driven towards Providence, heading south on Interstate 95 and seen the great white Pyramid of Pawtucket, so you have no idea what I’m talking about. 
• If you’re not local, and you haven’t seen the Apex Building, then I direct you to the first link in the show notes, which is a Business Insider poll from 2018 titled, “The ugliest building in every US state, according to the people who live there.” You don’t have to scroll too far to see what I’m talking about--it’s the cover image. 
• The Apex Building is a massive white pyramid—well, actually, it’s a ziggurat, because it has a terraced structure leading to its peak. At the top, the word Apex is written in bold red letters that face the highway, and it’s one of the most iconic sights passed by visitors heading into Providence. 
• But if you’ve seen it a million times, but you never knew what it was, you can be forgiven. Apex was once a department store--and it was one of three locations. The other two were in Warwick and Swansea, Massachusetts. 
• The Apex company was started in Providence in 1924 by Albert Pilavin, and it was initially called Apex Tire. The company specialized in tire retreading and automotive services and manufacturing. Pilavin was in his early 20s at the time, and he selected the name Apex because it included the initials of his name — A.P. — and suggested the apex or peak of achievement. It seemed like a perfect fit.
• The company was initially located on Westminster Street, but in 1938 the Great Hurricane hit Providence and devastated much of downtown, including Apex’s building. Pilavin made the most of the unfortunate circumstances. He moved the company to Pawtucket later that year, and separated out the tire business from the retail and manufacturing operations, creating Apex Tire and Service Center—which is actually still operating in Pawtucket today. 
• At the time, the company’s retail sales were run out of the back of the manufacturing buildings, which had been adapted to be like a little department store. But Pilavin saw that sales were growing, and there was an opportunity to expand into categories beyond automotive products. First he branched out into appliances, but it wasn’t long before Apex was selling all kinds of products. The company name was continually updated to match its expanding scope, going from Apex Tire and Supply to Apex Tire and Appliance, to simply Apex, Inc. 
• Today the Apex building seems stuck in the past, but Pilavin was actually really ahead of the curve when it came to retail sales in the company’s early days. As the department store side of the business grew in 1938 and 1939, Pilavin launched the Apex Card—one of the earliest customer loyalty programs. Later, Apex would be an early adopter of eCommerce. 
• So, Apex was continuing to adapt and change to meet the demands of the market, and the company was seeing success. As the company’s retail business grew, it became clear an actual store was needed. In 1964, Pilavin opened a full sized department store in Warwick. And later another was added in Swansea. And in 1969, Pilavin was looking to expand the small retail operation in Pawtucket to a freestanding department store as well. 
• This brings us to the origin of the Apex Building, the iconic Pyramid of Pawtucket. But before I tell you about the design and construction of the building itself, I want to take a small step backwards and talk about the city of Pawtucket, and the place the building within the context of the time and location it was constructed in. 
• Pawtucket was founded in 1671 by Joseph Jenks Jr. when he settled along the Blackstone River and started a forge and sawmill. But about 100 years later, the city would be defined by someone else--Samuel Slater, the father of the American Industrial Revolution. Slater introduced British textile technology in America, and designed the first textile mill in the U.S. in Pawtucket. By the early 1800s, Pawtucket was flourishing as a center for textiles, iron working and the production of other products. Through the 1920s, it continued to grow into a prosperous mill town. The downtown area was filled with banks, insurance companies, department stores, movie theaters, hotels, media and communications companies, offices, you name it. Downtown Pawtucket was the place to be. People would come from all over to see movies at the impressive Leroy Theatre, one of the finest and largest movie palaces in all of New England, and wealthy mill owners built their mansions adjacent to downtown. 
• But if you’ve been to downtown Pawtucket today, you know that it’s a bit of a ghost town. So what happened? Well, the city was devastated by industrial decline during the Great Depression. Manufacturers closed or moved their operations to the South, where labor and production were cheaper. As industry and jobs disappeared, they left in their wake empty buildings and environmental damage. The Blackstone River was so full of industrial waste, that years later, in 1990, the Environmental Protection Agency named it “the most polluted river in the country with respect to toxic sediments.” 
• So Pawtucket wasn’t doing so hot in the early to mid 1900s. But in the 1950s and 60s, the atmosphere was beginning to be more hopeful. Federally funded urban renewal projects had started to change the landscape of American cities. 1961 saw the creation of the Pawtucket Redevelopment Agency, created to renew the downtown business section and by 1965, as part of the Slater Urban Renewal Project, entire city blocks along the Blackstone River were demolished and replaced with new commercial or residential buildings. And there was another important new development winding its way through the city, one that would change the course of American’s everyday lives--the interstate highway. Over 1,000 residents were displaced and over 300 buildings demolished to make a path for Interstate-95 through Pawtucket. And though it was a matter of fierce debate, it was considered a necessary price to pay to bring life back into the city. Mayor Lawrence A. McCarthy declared, “We are going from an old-fashioned New England city into a modern, up-to-date community, accessible and convenient for business and industry.” And though some residents were fearful of what it could mean, others saw it as a symbol of hope and mobility and freedom. 
• And it’s within this landscape of optimism and change that the Apex Building had its roots. The property it’s on was once divided into six city blocks. Set along the waterfront, those blocks had been filled with mills, houses, churches, a fire station and a bakery. But when I-95 was opened in 1963, the land, which was said to be mostly derelict, was cleared and sold for redevelopment. And the Apex company bought it. 
• The company hired architect Andrew Geller to design their new store. Gellar worked for one of the most successful design firms in history--Raymond Loewy Associates. Loewy was famous for creating iconic American designs--including the Coca-Cola bottle, Lucky Strike Cigarettes, the Shell, Exxon, and BP logos, Coldspot refrigerators, the Studebaker and the Greyhound bus. He even designed the U.S. Postal Service’s Eagle logo. Loewy was America’s designer, and some went as far as to call him “The Man Who Shaped America.” 
• Geller, who had started his career with Loewy in 1954, was principally focused on residential and commercial architecture design, and he’d made a name for himself as well. 
• Geller designed “The Typical American House” for the American National Exhibition in Moscow in 1959 that sparked a debate between Richard Nixon and Nikita Khrushchev called the Kitchen Debate. This was an informal back and forth, taking place in the kitchen of the house, over the merits of capitalism and communism, with Khrushchev arguing Americans couldn’t afford the luxury represented by the “Typical American House.” Shortly afterwards, drafting off the press from the debate, Geller was hired to design a line of inexpensive prefabricated homes, available for purchase at Macy’s, called the Leisurama line that proved Americans could, in fact, afford the Typical American House--one that came fully stocked all the way down to the dishes!
• Geller also became famous for the side projects he took on while working with Loewy’s firm, particularly his unique, abstract beach houses in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. It was for these whimsical, optimistic designs that he was called, “The Architect of Happiness.” And on top of being an architect of happiness, he also had some serious credentials when it came to designing department stores, having designed locations for Macy’s, Bloomingdales, Daytons, Wanamaker’s and Lord & Taylors. And, actually, Lord & Taylor even used his hand-written script of their name as their logo. Can you imagine anyone better to design the new Apex Department Store, that would sit alongside the new Interstate Highway as a beacon of optimism and hope for the future of the city of Pawtucket? 
• The Apex Building was taken on as one of Geller’s side projects, and he saw the potential in the building’s highly visible location. In an interview with Tim Lehnert for his article, “The Apex of Potential,” Geller said, “I remember I criticized the fact that they weren’t making it more noticeable from the highway. And so we came up with something triangular." In the original rendering, the design looks more like a cone stacked on top of your typical shoebox department store. But the Pawtucket Redevelopment Agency had established regulations prohibiting freestanding signs more than six feet tall, so the design had to be reapproached. The regulations did allow for signs on the building itself, though, and Geller cleverly skirted around the regulations with the iconic ziggurat building that featured the Apex name across the top. 
• Really, the building is nothing more than your typical box department store with the ziggurat stacked on top like a hat, but for most, the ziggurat is all they see. Inside, the store itself once featured expansive, undivided floor space that local architectural historian Matt Kierstead described as “an entire landscape.” Everything from the unique, standout ziggurat design to the interior unbroken space reflected the hopefulness of a country reinventing itself for the future. 
• But, of course, not everyone loves the Apex Building. Providence designer J. Hogue calls it “divisive architecture.” Some people love it, some people absolutely hate it. And it’s a matter of conversation because, well, it might not be there much longer.
• Apex department stores hit their peak in the late 1980s and started to decline through the recession of the early 90s following the trend of other national department stores. With new competition from stores like Target and Walmart, Apex wasn’t attracting the shoppers it used to, and in the inverse of its early days of expansion, it began to slowly reduce the products it sold, getting out of certain categories like exercise equipment, electronics, and shoes. In 2001, the Warwick and Swansea locations were closed and inventory was dramatically reduced at the Pawtucket location. 
• The store may have continued to operate, but many Rhode Islanders believed 2001 was the end of Apex. One Reddit commenter wrote, “Everyone in RI has thought Apex has been closed for years despite it being open. It’s like we just all decided one day, ‘Whelp, it’s closed now,’” to which another commenter responded, “I still think this and I will continue to think this, thank you very much.” Another redditor went to Apex to shop, and wrote, “Even when you were walking through the store I still wasn't convinced it wasn't abandoned.” And finally, my favorite, “Nobody will convince me that there is a business operated out of there. I prefer to imagine something a lot more exciting like some Illuminati cult.” 
• In 2004, the Pawtucket branch of the Department of Motor Vehicles building flooded, and it temporarily moved into the Apex Building--and by temporary I mean it set up camp there for six years. My boyfriend got his driver's license there, and he remembers seeing department store signs and clothing racks in plain view, but he assumed they were just left there when the store closed. 
• In 2010, when the DMV moved out, Apex property owner Andrew Gates said he was planning a new mixed-use development called the Riverfront Commons, but there’s been no progress. And since then, the building has been a matter of local debate. 
• In 2015, it was considered as the new location for the Pawtucket Red Sox, Pawtucket’s minor league baseball team. But, that fell through and sadly the PawSox are now relocating to Worcestor. 
• The property was then scoped into a massive $400MM development project called Tidewater Landing, intended to completely transform Pawtucket’s riverfront and support economic growth. The development would be anchored by a soccer stadium and would include a pedestrian bridge over the river, a hotel, commercial real estate, parks and more. However, in the latest mock ups of the development, the Apex property was removed due to ongoing complications in negotiations between the owner and the city. In October of 2020, the city made a move to acquire the property by eminent domain, but as of recording this the owner continues to fight back, having filed a lawsuit within the last two weeks. 
• So, it’s impossible to know what will become of the Apex Building. And no matter what happens, someone will be upset. Because, there’s just no consensus on how to feel about the strange structure. And because the building is only around 50 years old, it’s weird and iconic, but it doesn’t feel very historical--yet. In fact, it only became eligible to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2019. But it isn’t an obvious choice like other historic Pawtucket and Providence homes and mill buildings. Instead of being seen as a symbol of industry, like a historic mill, it’s tied up in our associations with the highway and consumerism and other things we aren’t really proud of culturally. But, the impact of the highway on American culture is actually massive. The Federal Highway Administration writes on their site, “the Interstate System has been a part of our culture as construction projects, as transportation in our daily lives, and as an integral part of the American way of life. Every citizen has been touched by it, if not directly as motorists, then indirectly because every item we buy has been on the Interstate System at some point.” And, the 1950s and 1960s were all about the rise of the consumer, whether we like it or not. So, in a way, a department store built to cater to consumers and appeal to drivers on the interstate highway, and designed by a famous architect of Americana, is a pretty good reflection of that moment in time, to me anyway. But, what do I know? 
• The Apex department store may no longer be a big deal, but the Apex company is still very much alive. Remember I said that Pilavin was originally running the department store out of the back of the company’ factory in Pawtucket? Well, the manufacturing side of the business is still growing and expanding, and it’s called Teknor Apex. You can see the building on Central Ave in Pawtucket. I drive by it almost every day. And the Apex store--Right now, shopping is by appointment only, due to Covid, and I’m seriously curious how much shopping is actually being done there, but you can call and make an appointment and fine out for yourself, if you’d like! You can put on your face mask, and walk into the great white pyramid, and feel like you’re the lead in some sci-fi movie. At least, that’s what I’d be imagining. 
• Thanks for listening! If you like this episode, share it with family and friends! Or leave a rating or review wherever you get your podcasts. If you want to tell me how you feel about the Apex Building, you can email me at Weird Rhode Island at Gmail.com. See you next week as we dig up more stories about all things weird and wonderful in the little state of Rhode Island. Until next time!