The structure, six stories of Second Empire architecture, was the largest private building in the area when it was built at 55 Exchange Place in 1872, which had by 1893 had changed to 123 Westminster. (The Superman Building, which currently occupies the plot of land, is officially addressed as 111 Westminster.)

In 1911, sister dressmakers Anna and Laura Tirocchi moved their new business into room 438. Their only competition in the building was Henry R. Domenico, Ladies’ Tailor and Furrier, who worked out of room 448. An Edwardian society lady could promenade through the building and come out with a full new wardrobe and makeover, as the Butler Exchange also hosted a milliner, a purse manufacturer, a manicurist, a masseuse, two hairdressers, and seven shoemakers. She could even leave her children with one of its two dozen music teachers and take an hour or two at the Providence Ladies’ Gymnasium, founded and popularized by author Charlotte Perkins Gilman in 1881. The building was also the first home of the Providence Public Library before it moved in 1900.

The Tirocchi’s design business hosted by the Butler Exchange fit in well with their neighbors; dressmaking businesses flourished in the Arcade, as well as out of ladies’ apartments in the Lederer and Conrad buildings several blocks away. (The Conrad Building, at 139 Mathewson, is now the Hotel Providence.) These small shopfronts and office spaces enabled women to publicly make their own money within the profession, when the most common style of business in sewing was piecework within the home. Over 800 women were listed as dressmakers in the 1911 city directory, but only about a dozen of them had separate shops or workplaces of their own. The downtown area around Westminster street facilitated this independence and placed their businesses in the public sphere, where new costumers could more easily find them, instead of having to rely on neighborhood word-of-mouth.

The Butler Exchange’s closest neighbor was Providence’s first rail station, and its proximity to the station along with its prime position in the east side of the downtown area made it a heavily trafficked location. It would likely still be in place today were it not for a devastating 1925 fire, which destroyed most of the building.

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The Tirocchis began their dressmaking business downtown, and in only four years amassed enough elite clientele to move shop.The building they had been working in was beautiful, but it was also surrounded by the hustle and bustle of traffic, competing shops, and downtown life. When Laura married Dr. Louis Cella in 1915, they set their eyes on moving to the fashionable West Side of Providence – specifically, to Broadway Street, home to the wealthy and fabulous. 514 Broadway had been built in 1867 by prominent local architect Perez Mason and had housed two impressive businessmen: John Kendrick from 1867-1880, and George W. Prentice from 1881-1915. It was set up and furnished to present the appearance of wealth, and the Tirocchis capitalized on the space and effect. Surely both the family and their upper-class clients appreciated the display of affluence that the house created, inside and out. Its Italianate and Second Empire architecture – featuring sunburst gables and a mansard roof, capped with a three and a half story tower – stands out, even among the other beautiful homes of Broadway.

The large house became the perfect mix of public and private for the Tirocchi-Cella family; Dr. Cella took space on the first floor – eventually, they renovated and created an addition to the house that he relocated his practice to - and the public dressmaking business occupied the opulent second floor, while the sewing (and living!) took place on the third.

A. & L. Tirocchi Gowns flourished in the teens and twenties, despite the increasingly difficult economic situation for dressmakers. Ready-to-wear clothing at department stores had become more popular since it was introduced in the decades beforehand – the sisters’ saving grace was their elite clientele and their Italian training.

Anna Tirocchi’s beautiful gowns made waves in the Providence community and changed enough with the times that she was still a relevant designer more than thirty years after her debut. She and her sister made business connections in New York, Rome, and Paris that they visited with some regularity, bringing back brochures of the newest fabrics and fashions. Anna also invested smartly and bought several properties to rent, as well as a beach house on the Narragansett Bay. This relative affluence enabled her to support her workers and community in more ways than simple employment: shop girls were invited along on vacation, given housing when necessary, and had their wedding dresses made for free. In one instance, Anna wrote to a judge with familiarity, begging for leniency on the part of a community boy who had once worked for her when he was brought to court. The workers at A. & L. Tirocchi gowns functioned as apprentices; they were given rounded, practical instruction for years as they worked, and after a period of time they were able to strike out on their own as dressmakers in their own right.

The business ended in 1947 with Anna’s death, and its archives and collections were donated to RISD and URI in 1989. The house has undergone a few restoration efforts in the years since, most recently by the Dirt Palace collaborative, which plans to turn it into artist residences.

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