Preserving Danville’s history – Danville Commercial News

DANVILLE Danville Ward 1 Alderman Rickey Williams Jr. said he always knew he wanted to live in an old home.

Once I figured out I was staying in Danville, I knew I wanted an older home, he said

Williams admitted he drove up and down streets, and ones I never heard of to find the home of his dreams at 607 W. Madison St.

Ive always love the Queen Anne style, he said.

Williams home was one of five properties recognized last month during Old Town Preservation Associations 28th Annual Legacy Awards.

The Legacy Awards promote preservation and recognize interior and exterior renovations, landscaping, historic building additions and preservation advocates, according to OTPA board member Sue Beck.

People can nominate a business, home, apartment building, interior and/or exterior improvements, additions, garages and porches, she said.

Well consider anyone in the county, Beck said.

Most of the nominations come from association members and friends of members, she said. They say, You should drive by this house or this apartment building.

Williams mint green home with white and purple trim and gingerbread galore is one of those homes passersby slow down to look at and, in fact, was the topic of discussion a few months ago by Danville historians on Facebook.

Beck said Williams was recognized for the extra effort required to paint his beautiful Queen Anne-style homes exterior in a decorative color scheme, as well as the ongoing interior renovation and restoration of this Madison Square showpiece.

He was so excited when he talked about his house (to the OTPA), she said of Williams. He came along and its been resurrected.

The home has been a labor of love for Williams.

Ive only been working on it for two years, he said.

In that short time, however, Williams has spruced up the exterior of the home with paint, new shingles and replacing any missing gingerbread trim.

The house had been vacant a couple of years, he said. The porch was falling in, and all of the lower spindles of the porch railing had to be made.

There are well over 200 spindles on the porch probably, he said, adding that the wraparound porch which features a turret with a decorative gold and purple metal spire on top is 50 linear feet.

Finding someone to replicate the porch railing spindles took time and slowed down the restoration project.

It took me five months to find someone to make them and four months to get them made, he said. It took another three months to find someone to install them.

Also, 50 feet of fascia had to be made using a tool that was specially ordered so the new fascia matched the existing fascia.

When youre trying to restore a home if you want to do it well it takes time, he said.

Williams also has extensively researched the history of the home. While Sanborn maps and city directories show the house existed in 1893, a fireplace insert inside the home is dated 1883.

He learned the first occupants of the home were Reason and Anna Hooten, and that Mr. Hooten ran a lumberyard.

The exterior is not quite done, Williams said. After researching Victorian painted ladies, he decided he would like to paint the scallop trim on the second floor of the home in graduated shades of purple.

The interior of the home which boasts two parlors, two kitchens, one dining room and seven bedrooms is more than halfway done.

The upstairs is done and its beautiful, he said. The crown moulding trim is done.

Were doing it in phases, he said of the work. Next, well be working on the eastern half of the downstairs and painting the garage.

Williams is getting married in a couple weeks and will expand his family with a 9-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son. Still, he realized the house is larger than what his family will need, so he hopes to rent part of it to college students.

In addition to Williams, the association recognized four other Legacy Award recipients at its May 18 meeting.

The other honorees who received certificates this year are:

The apartment building at 444 Franklin St., and Marvin and Tammy Davis.

The Davises were recognized for the exterior and interior renovation and restoration of a grand apartment building in the revitalized West Downtown neighborhood, Beck said.

It takes people with a vision, she said of tackling the project.

That grand four-unit red brick apartment building received a new lease on life thanks to general contractor Joe Daur who lived there for eight months and worked on it day and night.

The Davises hired Daur to restore the apartment building so it could become rental property again.

The whole place was trashed, Daur said of his first encounter with the building.

An older woman, who had been a seamstress, was the only one left living in the building.

Every room, every closet was full of fabric, he said.

I lived there, so I worked on it as soon as I woke up, Daur said.

During his eight-month stay in the building, Daur replaced 52 windows with vinyl ones and installed a new roof, new electrical service, new plumbing, new bathroom fixtures, new kitchen cabinets, new kitchen flooring, carpeting throughout, new exterior steel doors for security and added washers and dryers in each unit.

Inside, the woodwork moulding and trim is all original.

I saved all the woodwork and trim, he said. I love all that.

I painted it, sanded it and painted it some more, he said. I kept it all original. I also reglazed the original windows on the front of the building.

Each unit has a 12-foot by 14-foot sunroom and a space in the garage. The first two tenants moved in June 1.

Daur has worked for various roofing and siding companies in the Champaign and Danville areas for years, but decided to slow down and work on my own.

I love old houses, he said.

The Davises, who could not be reached because of their work schedules, already has Daur working on his next project: Restoring a home in the 1000 block of Franklin Street.

They are buying properties to try to help people out and sell them on contract, he said.

The home at 1126 N. Vermilion St., and Mark Bolser on behalf of BnR Construction and Restoration and his grandmother Joyce Lewis.

Bolser was recognized for the extra effort required to paint the exterior of his grandmothers house on the Vermilion Street thoroughfare in a decorative color scheme, Beck said.

I love it, and the door catches your eye, she said. Im impressed.

Bolser said his company, BnR Construction and Restoration, starting working on the 100-year-old two-story home about two years ago.

Its been going on for a little over two years, Bolser said. But weve been working solid on it through 2016.

It was rental property that belonged to my step-grandfather, he added. It was a single-tone gray color and it was dreary.

We were going to do siding, but the design of the house was unique, so we thought it was best to scrape it and paint it, he said.

The blue-and-white home, with its coral-colored three-panel front door, now pops across from the Danville Family YMCA on North Vermilion Street.

In addition to the colorfully painted exterior, Bolser said the home has been tuck pointed and structurally rebuilt in places and a new roof installed.

The interior has been modernized, so it will suit more people, he said.

Old homes take a lot of work, Bolser added.

The home, however, isnt quite done yet.

Weve got some lap siding that we need to do on the back of the house, and we need to paint the garage, he said. We look to go back to it in July or August and finish it up.

In addition to the legacy award, Bolser said he has received many compliments on the house from passersby.

Weve gotten a lot of comments as people walk by, and the neighbor has taken an interest in it, he said. Were going to try to put her back to life.

The Masonic Temple at 109 W. North St., and the Ancient Accepted Scottish RiteValley of Danville.

The A.A.S.R. Bodies of the Valley of Danville were recognized for the extensive renovation and restoration work to maintain the Masonic Temple, a landmark structure integral to the fabric of downtown Danville, according to Beck.

The improvements made at the Masonic Temple are obvious, she said. Its the pillar of downtown. I cant imagine if it werent there.

Sean McBride, the 2nd Lt. Commander in Chief of Danville Consistory, one of the four coordinate bodies of the Scottish Rite, said work began to preserve the 101-year-old building a couple of years ago after an architects report indicated that water infiltration was causing the building to deteriorate.

McBride said tuck pointing the building was considered but deemed to be too costly.

Sealant was applied on the exterior of the building, and we replaced a portion of the roof, he said.

A handicapped-accessible ramp was built so that all three doors into the Masonic Temple are now ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant.

We received a Community Development Block Grant from the city that paid for the ramp, and that was a real blessing, McBride said.

Right now, were doing some work on the fire escape, and weve done some improvements inside, he said, including new heating and air conditioning systems in parts of the building.

Weve added new restrooms on the first and third floors so the building can be utilized more for public events, he said.

Were going to continue working on the building, he said. In the future, we want to replace the rest of the roof and finish that.

McBride credited Danville Ward 1 Alderman Mike Puhr, who is the building committee chair, with being the big driving force behind the restoration work. Funds will continue to be raised so additional improvements may be made.

The ultimate goal is to preserve the building and have it used regularly for public events, wedding, plays, concerts and meetings, he said.

McBride said being recognized for their preservation efforts and receiving a Legacy Award was an unexpected bonus.

It was definitely a nice surprise and it makes you feel good that people have taken notice, he said.

The building would have continued to deteriorate if we didnt do anything, McBride added. Its now a sound building.

The T.h. Snyder Co., 611 Oak St.

The T.h. Snyder Co. site was recognized for adapting and repurposing a viable center city commercial building, Beck said.

They took that space in the center city and reworked it, she said.

The unique three half-moon-shaped buildings from the early to mid-50s now serve as T.h. Snyders workshop after the manufacturer of high-end architectural woodwork relocated to the site in 2012 from its longtime Fairchild Street location.

We were operating out of three buildings (on Fairchild Street) and had to move product from building to building out in the elements, Brad Irle, president of T.h. Snyder, said.

OTPA board member Dick Cheney said the Oak Street site previously had been a wholesale lumberyard and later was the location of McDowell Builders.

They did an amazing job inside the building, Cheney said.

Irle said the front office was dated and dirty so it was updated with paint and carpeting.

Two-thirds of the three half-moon-shaped buildings were transformed into clean, white spaces, Irle said.

Twenty new windows were installed on the southern side of the buildings to bring more sunlight into the workshop areas.

We insulated and drywalled and installed new mechanicals to accommodate our equipment, he said. We added a drop ceiling so its much more efficient.

Irle, however, wanted to preserve some of the structures unique architecture, so the last one-third of the half-moon-shaped buildings was left unimproved and is used for storage.

The back third of the building has the original arched trusses, he said. Its neat to see the building in its original state.

The arched wooden trusses are neat to look at, he added. It took a lot of craftsmanship to do that.

Meeting time

The Old Town Preservation Association meets at 7 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month in the first-floor classroom at Lakeview College of Nursing, 903 N. Logan Ave.

Anyone is welcome to join OTPA. Memberships are available to individuals, families, seniors, organizations or as lifetime members.

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Preserving Danville's history - Danville Commercial News