Manville, Rhode Island: Milk Can - Bottle Building

The abandoned milk bottle building is still standing as of July 2009.

Here's a little history: The building dates back to 1929. It went out of business in 1968 and sat vacant until the state wanted to use the land it was on for a highway exit ramp in the 1980s. Stanley Surtel Jr. and his father-in-law Frank D'Andrea bought the structure for $1,100 and had it moved from its original Lincoln, Rhode Island location to a new spot a mile down the road on Route 146 in North Smithfield.

Almost immediately, the new owners encountered problems. It took preservationists and highway officials 17 months to devise a way to move the building without damaging it. Then regulations for installing a septic system added another delay. Surtel and D'Andrea put $50,000 into restoration when the state informed them the ground water on the new location was horribly contaminated with 600 times the allowable amount of benzine. Never reopened, the structure has been sitting on that same plot since 1991.

It's on a busy road, but I parked at the gas station next door easily and took some pictures.

Building still vacant, but in reasonable shape, easy to obtain photographs, Unfortunately, has never reopened since moved for highway construction.

Also referred to as Milk Bottle building. This building was actually a business located a bit further south on rte 146 near what is now the junction of 146/I-295. Business closed (circa 1968) and eventually was bought by new owners and moved to its present location with the intention of re-opening. The new owners (exact reasons unknown to me) were unable to secure all the necessary permits and the building has remained like that since.

There is a big milk bottle-shaped business building that has been unused for as long as I have been in the area (since 1990). It still is in good shape and I would love to see someone buy it and open it as a Dairy Cone or something. I'd be willing to buy the first scoop. Good location, too -- near a three-screen drive-in theater.