As design professionals, our primary focus is on “inhabiting” buildings. However, occasionally we still have to get involved with empty or abandoned structures. At Teitsch-Kent-Fay Architects, P.C. we are often brought on to projects to review and evaluate abandoned buildings to determine their potential for rehabilitation and re-use. In doing this we have encountered some surprises that make for pretty good spooky stories.
Back in 2003, we were asked to help convert an old “summer camp” in Cazenovia to a full time residence for a large and growing family. When we first visited the site we discovered that this “camp” was actually a late 19th- early 20th century estate that was used by the wealthy residents only in the summer. This meant that the building had been vacant for decades. Upon entering, we found Downton Abbey-like spaces such as a butler’s pantry, servants stairs, formal reception rooms, etc. The cupboards appeared untouched since the family had last visited, still filled with antique crockery. The butler’s pantry was even filled with ancient silver that had long since turned black. While neglected for a long time, the building was still in remarkable condition and our team had a great time converting for contemporary residential use.
In 2010 the Teitsch-Kent-Fay Architects, P.C. team was approached to evaluate a church which had been closed for quite some time. Once the evaluation was complete, our team was scheduled to prepare documents for the building’s demolition. Normally when you are demolishing a building you want the neighboring structure to be as far away from the soon to be demolished building as the soon to be demolished building is tall. This ensures that in the demolition process nothing can damage the surrounding structures.
When our team visited the site we were shocked to find that this massive church structure was constructed within a few feet of a residential building next door. To ease everyone’s concern about damaging this neighboring home, we worked with several demolition specialists to develop a plan that would carefully remove the building while providing protection for the neighboring house. It is never a happy assignment for us when we are tasked with planning the demolition of a building. That’s why we were extremely excited when the building was purchased by another congregation at the last minute and our demo plans could be shelved forever.
In 2012 we were asked by a nonprofit organization to review their building. The local authorities had recently declared that their building was too dangerous and told them to move to a temporary location. It turns out that one of the major issues their old building was facing was that it had several structural issues and that the local codes official shut the building down when they discovered it was infested with bats.
Dan Fay met the owner at the organization’s temporary location and they drove over to the closed building so that Dan could walk through it and see what kind of shape it was in. At one of the stair towers, the stair structure had collapsed leaving only the landings at each floor. Not wanting to resort to grappling hooks and ropes, we relocated to another part of the building where we could get upstairs. The walkthrough, and subsequent review’s was a hair-raising experience as we were constantly looking over our shoulders to make sure our flying friends were not around.
It is always difficult to have to tell a client that there isn’t anything we can do to save their building. But this was certainly the case when it came to this structure. Fortunately, a benefactor stepped up and offered them a building they owned which was larger, in much better condition, and all on one level to accommodate accessibility. Our team was thrilled to be able to assist this organization with the conversion of this new structure which provided them with not only a much better space, but also no bats!