Friday, December 01, 2017

Renovation and restoration: From Love's Cafe to Good Times to ... well, a building both old and new.


Work in progress by Resch Construction at 114 East Market Street. The floor that supported generations of Love's Cafe and Good Times patrons proved to be rotted and sagging, and was removed in favor of concrete.


During the extensive rehab effort, as many original components as possible have been salvaged. They yield fascinating insights into 150-year-old construction techniques. For instance, this entire wood frame structure was built with almost no nails.

This ceiling joist was joined to the supporting beam with a mortise and tenon (tenon is the tongue and mortise the hole).


A wooden peg for joining.


This support beam was hand-hewed with an ax.


These original poplar boards have since been cleaned.


The aim is to repurpose this wood in the interior. Meanwhile, the exterior view in early November:


Previously:

Talk about a grand opening -- it's a Good Time to take a look inside what used to be Love's Cafe.

2 comments:

w&la said...

It's great to see the original fabric of a building respected - it's even better to see folks move forward and renovate and expand our city's venerable retail space! Great job!

The New Albanian said...

It's genuinely surprising that the building itself, or at the very least its floor, didn't collapse. Resch is putting a good deal more time and money into this than he thought would be necessary, and it's a credit to his vision that he's following through.