PEABODY — Workers are slowly dismantling the former A.C. Lawrence factory smokestack with plans to save 10 feet of the 225-foot structure for preservation as a historical park.
A long-time local landmark located off Crowninshield Street, the stack towers over the factory site where The Tannery apartments are located. Tannery owner WinnCompanies, which purchased the residential complex in 2019, is dismantling the stack for safety reasons.
A Dracut crane company started work late last month taking care to make sure the stack’s base remains intact during demolition.
“The process is going rather slowly for safety reasons and to preserve a portion of the stack pipe,” said Peabody Historical Commission commissioner Deborah Eskenazi.
WinnCompanies spokesman Ed Cafasso said the dismantling started at the stack’s top with workers removing two or three-foot sections at a time.
“The exterior of the stack will be knocked inward, so that the pieces fall down the center of the stack. When a small section is completed, the process will stop while workers on the ground retrieve the debris from inside the base. Then, the three-step process will be repeated again – inspection, demolition, debris removal – as part of a safety-conscious, methodical effort,” Cafasso said.
At the end of the process, if all goes as planned, a capped, 10-foot-high section of the stack will remain standing as a memorial centerpiece. Creating a small, history-focused park was mutually agreed upon by the commission and WinnCompanies.
The park should be landscaped with a path by early fall and Eskenazi said the park will include historical information on a plaque.
“The stack is historical. Winn is removing it for safety reasons. They’ve been so accommodating with the Commission,” she said.
Arthur C. Lawrence established his leather company in 1894, employing thousands of workers — many of them immigrants — and earning Peabody the title of “leather capital of the world.”
WinnCompanies with $49.3 million in MassHousing financing purchased the 284-unit Tannery complex a year ago with the goal of preserving affordability for low-income households.
MassHousing financing enabled Boston-based WinnCompanies to preserve affordability at The Tannery for at least 45 years.
A.C. Lawrence was converted from an industrial site to a residential complex in the 1970s and MassHousing assisted with the original financing arrangements.
There are 20 studio apartments, 234 one-bedroom apartments, and 30 two-bedroom apartments contained in three residential buildings.
Thor Jourgensen can be reached at [email protected].
