The Crescent Brass and Pin Company Building is located at 5766 Trumbull Street in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 2003. It is currently known as the Research Lofts on Trumbull.Crescent Brass and Pin Company Building
from Detroit1701.org

History

In 1886, Alvin W. Needham designed a machine to manufacture cigar box nails. He enlisted the support and investment of John and William Gray, brothers who operated a

carriage A carriage is a private four-wheeled vehicle for people and is most commonly horse-drawn. Second-hand private carriages were common public transport, the equivalent of modern cars used as taxis. Carriage suspensions are by leather strapping ...

building business.Research Lofts
History page The three men founded the Empire Wire Nail Company to manufacture nails, operating out of John Gray's barn on Trumbull. Meanwhile, Needham invented another machine to make radiator chaplets (casting devices used to hold cores in place during a pour). Chaplets proved to be a more lucrative business than nails, and the company gradually shifted its production in that direction. The business stayed in John Gray's barn until 1897, when it moved to the building on Adams that housed Gray's carriage works. At the same time, Needham sold out to the Gray brothers, and the company name was changed to the Crescent Machine Co. The company expanded from there, and soon the Gray brothers were working full-time at Crescent. In 1905, Crescent outgrew their lodgings on Adams, and built a new building on Trumbull just north of John Gray's property. A few years later,

plumbing Plumbing is any system that conveys fluids for a wide range of applications. Plumbing uses pipes, valves, plumbing fixtures, tanks, and other apparatuses to convey fluids. Heating and cooling (HVAC), waste removal, and potable water delive ...

supplies were added to the manufacturing list, and the company changed its name to Crescent Brass & Pin Company. The company produced multiple products over its history, although nails and chaplets continued to be the backbone of its business. Crescent stayed at the location on Trumbull until 1958, when, due to labor troubles, it moved to

Americus, Georgia Americus is the county seat of Sumter County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 16,230. It is the principal city of the Americus Micropolitan Statistical Area, a micropolitan area that covers Schley a ...

, and re-organized as Simplex Nails, Inc. Although some manufacturing operations were later returned to the Trumbull plant, operations in Detroit never fully recovered, and Crescent ceased manufacturing in Detroit in 1984, donating the building to the

Society of Saint Vincent de Paul The Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVP or SVdP or SSVP) is an international voluntary organization in the Catholic Church, founded in 1833 for the sanctification of its members by personal service of the poor. Innumerable Catholic parishes have ...

. In September 2001, the building was purchased by 5766 Trumbull LLC with the intention of converting the former factory into affordable lofts. In spring 2005, construction began; a third floor was added to the original two-story structure and the entire building renovated into 35 loft spaces."Midtown Living"
from Detroit Midtown, pp. 36-37 In October 2006, the first new resident moved into the renovated building. The building has been renamed Research Lofts on Trumbull.

Construction

The Detroit architectural firm of Rogers and MacFarlane designed the original building in 1905. This building exemplifies the standard timber frame mill construction that was popular in Michigan well into the early 20th century. The large posts and beams created relatively large spaces free from interspersed columns and easily adaptable to large machinery. Massive posts and exposed floor

joist A joist is a horizontal structural member used in framing to span an open space, often between beams that subsequently transfer loads to vertical members. When incorporated into a floor framing system, joists serve to provide stiffness to the su ...

s were constructed to slow the spread of fire and aid in its detection by eliminating hidden spaces. The building was enlarged in several stages, the first in 1916, then later in 1917, 1924, and the early 1950s. These later additions were built using

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low ultimate tensile strength, tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion ...

, exemplifying the change in industrial architecture during the first part of the 20th century.

References

External links

Research Lofts
{{National Register of Historic Places in Michigan National Register of Historic Places in Detroit Industrial buildings completed in 1905 Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan Fastening tool manufacturers 1905 establishments in Michigan Industrial buildings and structures in Detroit