A look at progress on The Depot….

We love a good before-and-after, dont you?

Much of this interior and exterior brick work took place as part of the exploratory work we need to do: How is this put together, how rough of shape is that wall in, are these old rafters still doing their jobs (they are)…..

After we got the basics down on the Depot, we turned our attention to the more ‘infrastructure’ parts of the site (underground utilities, restrooms, and a kitchen across the trail) to start the extremely and seemingly equally important flows of revenue and attention on the greater project.

Below are a few favorite side-by-side images to show the progress thus far. More to come and, as always, we look forward to the work ahead.

Seeing the transformation from those old concrete patches to beautifully restored historic brick makes every bit of effort worth it, and the whole project worth the wait. This is what preservation looks like—one careful repair at a time. In time we will see new windows (from Historic Windows & Doors Co.) throughout the building, new doors, a wrap around deck and stairs coming off this existing entry.

Above we see a ‘before’ and a ‘progress’ image. By removing the non-historic concrete steps, we revealed a window that had long been covered and able to meet the historic wood floor properly.

This is my favorite example to really see the impact of good craftsman (A & M Masonry) removing the concrete patches and properly tuckpointing the building. You can see in the ‘before’ picture that the concrete patch sort sunk inward and the cracks around it show how, over time, this movement creates bigger issues throughout the structure.

Above we see the east side opening, where bricks were crumbling out of the walls. You could literally just pick one right out, then place it back. The project team took great care to secure our historic brick and prepare our structure for the bigger work to come - floors, roof, deck, new doors and everything it takes to make a 140 year building welcome its neighbors back in again.