Category: Restoration
It is getting a little chilly around here
Recently, a massive crane spent a week at the site adding the final bits to the roof so we can begin to cool down this summer.
Coffee coming to the McCrory Timmerman
We love our coffee and soon you will too. Equipment, hand-made benches, & final prep of the 200yrs. old long-leaf pine bar top are leading up to a Spring 2016 opening.
Craftsmanship at work
Sanding the coffee bar counter made from 200 year old long-leaf pine.
On tap: The microbrewery space progress
With an anticipated Spring 2016 opening, crews are working hard to finish the microbrewery space in the McCrory Timmerman Building.
Elevator music?
Among the progress happening at the McCrory Timmerman Building this summer is bringing the historic 1948 freight elevator up to code. Thank you Central Texas Elevator
Hayley Blundell and Judy Blundell take the first trip in the restored elevator this summer.
Restoring by hand
Refinishing the orginal wood floors in the Titsworth building. Great detail is going into the project and the floors are no exception.
A New Year
The McCrory Timmerman Restoration Project has crossed into the new year and everything is just a little bit ahead of schedule! Special thanks are due to our onsite teams who worked and worked and didn’t let up over the holidays.
As a result, the building is fully insulated with 8 inches of BioTex natural soybean base foam, the floorboards on the upper level have been reinforced and soundproofed, and our stunning arches have been restored to their original beauty.
Catherine Sckerl of Espero Studio has joined our team and will help us qualify for LEED certification. The natural thermal envelope provided by 16” thick brick walls combined with the BioTex foam, the Uniflex “Cool Roof,” and the double glazed operable Solexia windows have us hoping to obtain at least a LEED Silver rating.
From the very beginning we have promised local businesses that we would try our best to create additional parking as opposed to claiming existing spaces for the loft and retail tenants. We even considered creating a drive through parking garage on the ground floor of building B. But happily for us, the building next door became available and it has an existing parking area for 10 cars behind it.
The newly purchased building will be known as the Titsworth Building in honor of it’s original purpose, Titsworth Furniture, and will be the new home of the Taylor Artist Guild along with a few other Taylor locals who are committed to creative industries.
Moving Into the Light
Yesterday morning we moved from the dark cold miserable shelf, that has been our onsite office, upstairs and into the light. Even though the space is far from finished it has the feel of a true loft-style creative studio – the sort of work place most can only ever dream of.
Thank you McCrory Timmerman Building for allowing us to tap into your original beauty!
Transformations
The asbestos tests are underway,
Damaged brick work being repaired,
Old brittle windows from 1961 gone and replaced with beautiful double glazed Solexia panes.
This old building just may turn out to be spectacular once again!
Have you noticed the transformation yet? Leave your thoughts below.
Wheels and Cogs and Stunning Pieces of Steel, Oh My!
We’d like to thank the onsite crew who invested their time, expertise and a whole bunch of courage on the day we dismantled and dropped the 1888 elevator. It was a messy, grotty task conducted in a small, dusty, grimy shaft.
Being an artist I asked that the equipment be treated as gently as possible because the word “sculpture” kept popping into my head. So many beautiful wheels and cogs and stunning pieces of steel! At the end of the day, the guys emerged safely from the wheel house on the roof and the beautiful old bits and pieces of the machinery were removed intact from the base of the shaft.
Thank you Justin, David, John and John!
