A local photographer captured several images June 17 of the former Jamestown-Royal Upholstery Corp. on Crescent Street. Before a merger, the building opened in 1913 as Jamestown Upholstery Co. Photos by Jared Paxton

Just days before its destruction, a local photographer captured what may be the final images of the former Jamestown-Royal Upholstery Corp. building in all its glory.

Jared Paxton, a photography and history buff, snapped hundreds of images of the four-story Crescent Street building June 17. That same morning he also photographed the former Gurney Ball Bearing Co. facility located nearby.

Paxton said over the years he has documented several buildings that have come to symbolize Jamestown’s rich manufacturing history. While some of those facilities are still in use, many now sit vacant.

“I decided to go around and photograph some of the old factories,” said Paxton, who shared dozens of the photos he took of the Crescent Street plant. The brick building was destroyed Friday after fire broke out around 6:45 p.m., with smoke visible from as far away as Cattaraugus County.

The fire was ruled arson on Monday.

“I like photography and local history and I just combine the two,” he added. “I usually just post them on Facebook. It was one of my days off so I went out in the morning; I didn’t want the sun too bright to get a good photo.”

The former Jamestown-Royal plant had several notable features. Giant letters spelling the company’s name were painted on each side of the building in addition to hundreds of glass windows. The letters “J U Co” appeared combined over the entrance to the office as the plant originally opened in 1913 as Jamestown Upholstery Co. before a merger around 1929,

Paxton posted dozens of the photos he took of the former plant to Facebook on June 20. On Friday, a co-worker told him the building had caught fire.

“I had been out that day getting stuff done when a co-worker mentioned, ‘Isn’t that one of the buildings you photographed?'” he said. “I actually went down there. I didn’t want to get in the way, but I went down there and took some pictures. I thought the timing was weird; I had just photographed it a week earlier.”

Paxton noted that many of the factories that made Jamestown a hub for manufacturing are now gone. He plans to continue documenting as many as he can before it’s too late. “I just think someone should get some really neat photos before they’re all gone,” he said.