Interior 211 Main

The following photos were taken during a viewing of the building prior to purchase.  Many moons ago I was a licensed Real Estate Broker in the State of Texas.  I have seen properties in every possible condition, from pristine-ready-to-move-in, to close to tear-down.  Fortunately, I was blessed with the ability to see beyond chaos, to recognize good bones hidden behind piles of possessions, poor decorating and even debris.  When walking into 211 Main, this is what the average person would see...

Photo taken from from rear of room toward front windows.

What do you see when you look at these three pictures?  Many would say 'stuff.'  Lots and lots of 'stuff.'  Here is what I saw...gorgeous old windows encased in original wood moulding and topped with a beautiful arch, and natural light flooding through the old windows.

Photo taken from front door toward back of main room.

 In this photo I saw space.  Much more space than the original Cow Palace occupied.  I saw plaster walls.  Old plaster walls.  Far left--and not obvious in this photo--there is a roughly chiseled-out door-size opening through the stone wall.  The previous owners had created the opening so they could move freely between the two buildings without having to go outside.  Since there's about a four-foot walkway between the buildings, they also constructed a crude covered hallway in the walkway to protect them from the elements when they passed to the other building.  This oddity was something we would have to repair, but it also offered an X-ray type opportunity to view how the building was constructed--and see that the exterior wall is approximately two feet thick!  Now that is some intense insulation!

Photo taken from halfway through main room, to reveal temporary walls built to form restricted area for pharmaceuticals, sliding glass windows, and a dropped ceiling.

In the third picture, I squinted my eyes and tried to envision the space without the temporary walls built to store the pharmaceuticals and without the sliding glass windows.  And then I looked up and wondered what the dropped ceiling concealed.  The building is over a hundred years old, which meant there was a strong possibility there was a tin ceiling hiding up there.

Some people would have walked---maybe even run from the building, unable to envision the possibilities, the diamonds hidden beneath years of neglect and concealed by 'stuff.'  Not me.  And, thankfully, not Melanie Jamison!

In a matter of days, Melanie presented a contract to purchase the property, the owners accepted, then the real work began.

Next up...demolition.