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History of the Building
The building, 1 of 4 identical
buildings, was designed and built by J. Harvey Fowble, an accomplished
local architect/builder in 1878. It has been a barber shop, run
by Leroy (Happy) Keeny for many years. Happy kept pigeons inside
the shop and allowed they to fly about. It has also been a bicycle
repair shop and an art studio. In 1937, a fire which consumed
the 2 buildings next door, burned off the 2nd story of the building.
After the fire, it was re-roofed minus the second story. The
fire had also damaged the intricate brackets and trim on the
lower facade, so the trim was removed and the mess was all covered
with aluminum siding. Lastly, all of the large individual window
dividers were removed and large sheets of plate glass were installed.
The building suffered these indignities for many years.
In 1995, the 2nd story was finally
rebuilt using the twin building next door as a guide.
In June 2000, we purchased the
building to open Purkeys Toy Trains. We contacted our good friend
Jonathan Herman, owner of Herman
Construction about doing the restoration of the building.
Jonathan accepted the project with his usual enthusiasm, and
the end results are spectacular. |
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Here it was, in June 2000, neglected,
and an undesirable property, except that it was in an active
Historic District. |
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We removed the plate glass windows,
and the aluminum siding. It was depressing to see how bad it
was. |
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Here it has new window trim, ready
for the new glass. You could see where the brackets were missing. |
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Serious work begins on the brackets and trim. All trim was copied
exactly from the twin building next door. |
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The brackets are almost finished. One of the pieces of trim is
an row of alternating Scottish thistles and Irish shamrocks,
the official flower of both countries. |
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At last, the trim is finished, an expensive part of the project,
but worth every penny. The painters begin to paint the building
in the original colors determined by paint chip analysis. |
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Almost there...only 1 month behind schedule. |
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The finished facade, only 30 days left to the re-scheduled Grand
Opening
October 1, 2000 |
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Send email to sales@purkeystoytrains.com
to inquire
about our products or inventory
Copyright
2000, 2006Purkey's Toy Trains. All rights reserved |
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