metro
07-18-2006, 11:39 AM
Bygone brewery's building on tap for downtown restoration project
By Robert Medley
The historic art deco building on the west end of downtown, now the home of the Oklahoma League for the Blind, could soon be restored to its 1935 grandeur.
The five-story building, once featuring a facade of shiny black and cream-colored brick, still towers over Douglas Avenue between NW 4 and NW 5. The building was the original home of the bygone Progress Brewery. Now, about 100 blind people use the building to produce $12 million a year in items such as hoses for the U.S. Forestry Department and chocks for aircraft wheels for the U.S. Department of Defense.
But the league can only use two floors of the building and is forced to manufacture some parts off-site, said Lauren White, the league's president and chief executive officer.
The league has occupied the building since 1975, and little has been done since then to save the jewel of the downtown's west side, White said.
The roof needs to be replaced, there is no emergency sprinkler system and valuable space goes unused each day, she said.
Within a few months, the league will kick off a fund-raising campaign to restore the building. Rand Elliott of Elliott and Associates Architects is nearly finished with a $15,000 restoration feasibility study funded with a grant from the Kirkpatrick Family Fund.
The building could be an anchor of development on the west side of downtown without the wrecking ball of urban renewal, Elliott said.
"History is valuable," Elliott said. "To rejuvenate it, to preserve this building, will be a catalyst to revive this neighborhood."
The projected cost to restore the building is between $7 million and $9 million. The building would sell as is for less than $2 million, White said. But the project is about more than constructing new walls, she said.
The building is centrally located along a good bus route. The blind people who work inside depend on public transportation.
"There are not a lot of places in Oklahoma City that are as accessible," White said. "To move would be detrimental to us."
She points to the nearby "film row," a block of buildings along California Avenue at Dewey Avenue that are being restored. The league's building is on the edge of the Metropolitan Area Projects and is ripe to take off like the east side of downtown, she said.
The building is also home to a piece of brewing history.
Progress Brewery, owned by John Kroutil of Yukon, was known as one of the finest breweries in the country in the 1930s, White said.
The original taproom remains untouched from the 1930s era on the building's first floor, featuring murals of a German mountain village depicting chalet-style buildings. There are wooden kegs behind a bar and tables for meetings or social events.
Elliott said the room could be turned into an exhibit space.
A sweeping view of downtown is available from the fifth floor, where beer once brewed. The space is used for storage.
White said the building will be open to the public for tours once a month, with the first one scheduled for Aug. 11.
Elliott said if the money is raised for the project, work could be completed in about two years.
By Robert Medley
The historic art deco building on the west end of downtown, now the home of the Oklahoma League for the Blind, could soon be restored to its 1935 grandeur.
The five-story building, once featuring a facade of shiny black and cream-colored brick, still towers over Douglas Avenue between NW 4 and NW 5. The building was the original home of the bygone Progress Brewery. Now, about 100 blind people use the building to produce $12 million a year in items such as hoses for the U.S. Forestry Department and chocks for aircraft wheels for the U.S. Department of Defense.
But the league can only use two floors of the building and is forced to manufacture some parts off-site, said Lauren White, the league's president and chief executive officer.
The league has occupied the building since 1975, and little has been done since then to save the jewel of the downtown's west side, White said.
The roof needs to be replaced, there is no emergency sprinkler system and valuable space goes unused each day, she said.
Within a few months, the league will kick off a fund-raising campaign to restore the building. Rand Elliott of Elliott and Associates Architects is nearly finished with a $15,000 restoration feasibility study funded with a grant from the Kirkpatrick Family Fund.
The building could be an anchor of development on the west side of downtown without the wrecking ball of urban renewal, Elliott said.
"History is valuable," Elliott said. "To rejuvenate it, to preserve this building, will be a catalyst to revive this neighborhood."
The projected cost to restore the building is between $7 million and $9 million. The building would sell as is for less than $2 million, White said. But the project is about more than constructing new walls, she said.
The building is centrally located along a good bus route. The blind people who work inside depend on public transportation.
"There are not a lot of places in Oklahoma City that are as accessible," White said. "To move would be detrimental to us."
She points to the nearby "film row," a block of buildings along California Avenue at Dewey Avenue that are being restored. The league's building is on the edge of the Metropolitan Area Projects and is ripe to take off like the east side of downtown, she said.
The building is also home to a piece of brewing history.
Progress Brewery, owned by John Kroutil of Yukon, was known as one of the finest breweries in the country in the 1930s, White said.
The original taproom remains untouched from the 1930s era on the building's first floor, featuring murals of a German mountain village depicting chalet-style buildings. There are wooden kegs behind a bar and tables for meetings or social events.
Elliott said the room could be turned into an exhibit space.
A sweeping view of downtown is available from the fifth floor, where beer once brewed. The space is used for storage.
White said the building will be open to the public for tours once a month, with the first one scheduled for Aug. 11.
Elliott said if the money is raised for the project, work could be completed in about two years.