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514 BROADWAY: THE BUSINESS HOME

"The home was divided into two businesses.
This was a business home." - Louis

Anna Tirocchi had bought the house at 514 Broadway shortly before her sister wed Dr. Cella, and she chose it carefully. Described in the Providence Preservation Society’s Guide to Broadway: A Victorian Boulevard as "one of the most ornate on [the street]," number 514 was a much-admired house. It was built in 1867 for John K. Kendrick, owner of the Kendrick Loom Harness Company. Mr. Kendrick sold it in 1880 to George W. Prentice, a buttonhook manufacturer and street-railway tycoon. Anna Tirocchi would have been proud of the fact that her new house had been formerly owned by two of Providence’s prominent businessmen. She would also have prized the location, a fashionable section of the city (which also happened to be near its largest Italian neighborhood - Federal Hill).

Both these factors made 514 Broadway an ideal location for her elite custom dressmaking business. It was easily reached from the East Side where most of her clientele lived. Moreover, many physicians had their offices located on this stretch of Broadway, so it was also an ideal location at which young Dr. Cella could establish his practice.