A four-story brick and steel building that was used to purify coal gas on the Providence waterfront 100 years ago has been named to the National Register of Historic Places.

According to today's Providence Journal, the metal building recently been converted into artists’ studios, a conference center and a club.

The owner of the steel building, Patrick Conley, and Edward Sanderson, executive director of the state’s Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission, announced the designation yesterday.

Most people would recognize the historic metal building as the longtime City Tire company. But in the last few years, Conley and his wife spent $7 million converting it to new uses.

The top floor is now the Conley Conference Center and Fabre Line Club, with stone fireplaces, historic pictures, comfortable furniture and birds eye views of the waterfront.

The other three floors are rented out as artists’ studios.

The commercial metal building began its life in 1900, erected to purify coal gas for use in local businesses.

It was a unique and pioneering architectural and engineering structure, he said, because it was one of the first to use a steel building frame in the city of Providence - the frame sheathed is in brick, a method that is now commonplace in steel buildings across the city.

Pointing to its luxurious interior, the metal building represents the evolution of the waterfront — showing how hundreds of old steel buildings are being put to new uses.

In the 21st Century, Conley said he envisions the steel building as the centerpiece of a revitalized waterfront.

“There’s one linear mile of deep water there with access to the ocean that could support $2-3 billion worth of development if the state and local people would follow this lead,” he said.