Super Saturday

I just hope that I can move under my own power tomorrow morning!

We started out just after 7:30 am by doing general clean up on the main floor, putting away the tools and removing trash. Then we carried several boxes of floor tiles out of the basement and started filling the dumpster for something like the 12th time.

About 10:00, the crew grew larger. Everyone went to the basement and things began to happen! By 3:00, the floor tiles were gone. Four shelving units had been disassembled and carried upstairs. One wall and part of another had been taken down. Three pizzas had disappeared. Thirty feet of heating ductwork had been taken down. Half a mile of phone wire was coiled neatly. Twenty ceiling lights had been taken down and stacked in the back room.



On the north wall, all the loose concrete had been knocked down, shoveled into buckets, and hauled up to the dumpster. The not-so-loose concrete was gone, too.



Now the fun begins! Planning details are beginning to take shape. This soffit design, still under development, repeats the Art Deco lines used on shelving and trim by Penneys in the late 1920s.

"I'm puzzled by how the apartments fit…"

A number of people have wondered about this ~
"I'm puzzled by how the apartments fit - elevation-wise - with the mezzanine. Are they a third floor altogether? And if so, is there something west of them?"

~ so here's an attempt to explain.

Once upon a time, around 1876, the Bryson Block was brand new. It was two stories high, in the usual manner with a main floor, a basement, and an upstairs. When it was new, it was only 66 feet deep, so it didn't fill the lot all the way to the alley. It housed two retail shops - a grocery in the south half, and a dry good store in the north half. Gentlemen's sleeping rooms occupied the second floor. We know this information from reading newspaper ads and the Small Talk column in the Washington County Press

A one story brick ware room was attached at the rear of the dry goods store. However, there was no such room behind the grocery. Instead, the Sanborn Fire Maps show a small wooden storage building by the alley.


Sanborn Fire Map, 1885 (the oldest fire map I have) The numbers in the corners of the buildings tell how many floors; the little circles are for stove chimneys, the lines dashed through the exterior walls represent windows.

A two story brick addition was built at the rear of both shops, probably around 1894 or 1895. It absorbed the one story brick ware room and extended the building all the way to the alley. The date is conjecture - based on an 1895 news clipping that says the owner is installing a metal ceiling in his fine new building. The 1897 Sanborn Fire Map shows the addition, but the 1892 map does not.

At this point, the second floor is just like any other second floor - a layer of rooms above the main floor. The tall windows with arched tops are the second floor. That's where the apartments will be located.

In 1927, J C Penney Company arranged to move from their store next door into the larger building, and at the same time, remodeled to suit their needs. An article in the March 29, 1927 Washington Journal mentions that "a sort of mezzanine floor has been constructed to accomodate the office, which is equipped with the latest devices necessary, including ten cash carriers."

What did they do in 1927? Starting about 80 feet from the front of the building, the second floor walls, flooring, and joists were removed, leaving a huge cavern in the back of the building with a ceiling over the main floor which was about 26 feet high - all the way to the roof. Within that space, a mezzanine and second balcony were constructed, along with the staircases. The mezzanine floor was constructed lower than the second floor; ceiling height in the front of the main floor, under the apartments, is about 12 feet, but it's only 8 feet under the mezzanine.

One more clue exists -- the last two second story windows on the Main Street side of the building (west end) are not part of the apartments, but are now visible from the main floor, although they are unnaturally high in the wall, and are located over the stairs to the mezzanine.

What's west of the apartments is the mezzanine, but they are separated by a wall and by 15 feet of open air. On the apartment drawing, that wall is the west wall of Apartment 2. If we pulled the drywall off, we'd be looking at the mezzanine railing, just 15 feet away.

The Main Floor drawing shows a dotted line through the middle of Commercial 2 - that's the end of the second floor - its west wall.

If you are still curious, come in and see. Most afternoons, when the front door is propped open, we're there.

A Tour of the Main Floor

If you are walking along Marion Avenue, heading toward the Post Office, you will walk by the display windows of the unit we're calling Commercial 1. That unit is shown in light green, and is dedicated to retail use - no offices here! The unit has 1600 square feet of floor space, and over 500 square feet of display window. At this time, it is available.

Instead of continuing on to the Post Office, turn left at the corner and walk along West Main Street. Today, you'll pass a ghost window with a window sill. That's the approximate location of the first new doorway which provides a private entrance to Commercial 2, the Office Suite. In this drawing, it's the yellow one.

Commercial 2 has a reception area, conference room, work area, and restroom on the main floor. Remember those wide J C Penney stairs? They lead up to the mezzanine (not shown in this post) where there will be four private offices, an additional restroom, and an additional small meeting area. The Chamber of Commerce has dibs on Commercial 2, but it's contingent on selling their present building.

Continuing along West Main, you'll pass the entrance to Commecial 4. This is the blue area on the drawing, and leads to the lobby of the basement where Tim Johnson has plans to open a lunch room and night club. Only the lobby is located on the main floor, but you can see how the stairs descend. Again, we're using those nice broad J C Penney stairs.

The last of the new doorways on Main Street provides an entrance to Commercial 4, a small shop space, or perhaps an office, that's located under the mezzanine. Since it's less than 1,000 square feet, it's potential is more limited, but it could be 'just right' for someone. This unit is also available.

The bright green area at the southwest corner of the building will be rebuilt to provide a freight entrance and safe exit for the basement.

New Apartments

I'm happy to post something that isn't brown and grimy and drab!

This is the final draft of the two classy (we hope) apartments that will be built on the second floor. Apartment 1 faces Central Park on the east, and looks up North Marion Street on the north. Apartment 2, with only five windows, looks out on Main Street, and toward the Court House to the northwest.

Both apartments will have spacious living/dining areas, a 'real' kitchen with a pantry, and room for laundry facilities. Both apartments will have maple flooring in the main rooms, but will have tile in the wetter areas. When we pick it out, we'll show you what it looks like.

We plan to reuse the old doors and door hardware, including the 1876 Centennial lockset (see October's post). Apartment 2 will have a metal ceiling in the bedroom and living spaces which is just like the metal ceiling on the main floor. Since there was no metal ceiling in apartment 1, it will have a slightly lower drywall ceiling which will cover the cracked plaster while allowing heating ducts and wiring to be installed more easily.

More Ghosts

This time the ghosts are windows. The evidence was found upstairs on the south wall where three arched cracks atop vertical cracks are spaced six feet apart. Each window is about three feet wide.

Faith and Luck

The walls on the second floor are being prepared for a layer of insulation and drywall which will cover the old plaster and wallpaper, and the stains from rain and soot. Before that happens, I want to be sure the apartments are as snug as they can be, so …



… I rolled out my yellow fiberglas and began to stuff the gaps between the window frames and the bricks.



I was itching to finish (if you have used fiberglas insulation, you know what I mean!)
Refocusing away from the task for a moment, I found an inscription on the bare plaster next to one of the front windows.



It must have been written before the first wallpaper was pasted up, and before the second and third layers were added, and long before the wallpaper was painted, and longer ago than the rain began to stain and loosen the wallpaper layers. Was the writer thinking about this unnamed day, sometime in the future, when some unnamed person might find the message and wonder why it was written and who had had such faith in luck?

Packages!

The brown truck stopped today and left a BIG box and a lot of little boxes. We've been waiting for this moment. They represent one of the first real, concrete decisions we've made. So much is still on paper, or tape/chalk on the floor, or is a dirty mess-in-progress, but these boxes represent the finish line.



Oh sure, you want to see what's inside, don't you? OK, but promise you won't pass judgement until you see them in the proper setting -- on the wall!



PS - about a third of the second floor window sashes have made it to Sorrell's where they're getting new glass.

Another Hint?

OK, Here's a Hint

What Has Changed?

Post your observations using the Comments link.

Square a restricted beer, liquor zone

By: Linda Wenger
Washington Evening Journal
02/08/2007


The Washington City Council adopted an ordinance amendment that allows business owners to apply for Class B beer permits and liquor licenses in the blocks adjacent to the Washington square. The final version of the amendment opens up the opportunity of other business owners applying for the permit and license in the blocks adjacent to the square. The proposed ordinance amendment the council considered during the first and second readings would have only affected the block on West Main Street between Marion Avenue and B Avenue.

Because the language of the amendment changed between the second and third readings of the ordinance, city attorney Craig Arbuckle explained the changes to the council and audience of approximately 30 people.

Arbuckle said that there was "some controversy" about the proposed amendment during the second reading on Jan. 17 when, on a 3-to-2 roll call vote, the council moved the amendment to a third reading.
"At present, our ordinance restricts the four sides of the square and extends one block in each direction from the square," Arbuckle said.

Arbuckle then said that the proposed ordinance amendment approved at the first and second readings "is somewhat equivalent to spot-zoning legislation." The changes in the language for the third reading "will correct and be better legislation."

Arbuckle also said that a new proposed ordinance will come before the council in the future which would allow only one business in each of the affected blocks to apply for the Class B permits and licenses. He characterized the upcoming proposed ordinance as "a density ordinance."

Early in the council's discussion, councilwoman Sandra Johnson said, "This was my brain child. My intention is to treat all sides of the square the same."

Johnson then read aloud the final version of the ordinance amendment as recommended by Arbuckle. She also made the motion to adopt the amendment, which was approved on a 5-to-1 vote with councilman Mike Roth voting no.

"Speaking for the people I represent - no," Roth said.

Present for the council's decision were Tim Johnson and his attorney Dan Kitchen. T. Johnson asked the council to change the city code so that he could apply for a beer permit and liquor license for his new business, The Soup Kitchen.

With a Little Help From Our Friends

Lorraine Williams of Café Dodici has graciously allow us to share her letter to the city council regarding the impending third, and critical, vote to amend the city's alcohol ordinance. The amendment under consideration would allow a live entertainment venue which is planned for our basement to sell alcohol.

As a front runner of a new emerging downtown in Washington, Café Dodici would like to promote the liquor ordinance for the “Soup Kitchen”. Café Dodici has performed in the past two years exactly as we promised. Why should the Soup Kitchen be any different? We have enticed customers from all over Iowa and the surrounding states. We receive letters everyday from happy customers thanking us for providing such a venue in this small Iowa town. We have shown responsibility with the serving of alcohol. We have won awards in many categories and have had articles written about us in the Press Citizen, the Gazette, the Des Moines Register, The Cedar Rapids Corridor Business Journal, The Source Magazine and Great Chicago Getaway Magazine.

After-dinner entertainment completes an evening out. Our customers want to stay out but currently must leave the area to find this after-dinner venue. Washington Revitalization is in local hands, investing time, money, and making a place to live with a variety of entertainment options

The most important piece of information that I received from Tom Guzman of the Downtown Assessment was that the Washington of 30 years ago is gone (ie: JC Penny’s, Joe Falk’s and the Chocolate Shop). We must accept change and create our new niche. Let us not live in the “fear” that someone might do something we don’t like in the future. There is time to “take away” privileges given in the event that such disrespect occurs. Let’s move forward and embrace the NEW Washington without fear and worry. The Soup Kitchen is vital to the continued success of Café Dodici and the attracting of citizens who choose to live here.

We ask the council to let the renaissance continue.


Thank you,

Lorraine Williams
Tsalika Drown
Alessandro Scipioni