CALDWELL, Texas (KRHD) — The building in Caldwell has been empty for decades on the corner of Hill and Buck, but a years-long project to restore it is almost finished. The venue will be used for events as a key piece once again downtown.
- The building is a staple and long-standing piece of downtown, and thanks to a restoration project, it is once again a part of our community.
- Pat Novosad, the building's owner and a Caldwell native, tells 15 ABC the building will be an event center for family gatherings, birthdays, and weddings.
- Novasad bought the building in 2018, and after years of work, they hope to have it open by late July.
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“It was in continuous use until the early '80s, yeah, and then the family that had owned it closed business," Allen Jancik, designer of the building and Caldwell native, said.
A building more than a century old and empty for decades.
“It was such a beautiful building at one time, and I just hated to see it tore down because it was part of the history of Caldwell and if that got tore down that meant that whole section, you know, would be gone and history would be lost," Pat Novosad, owner of the building and Caldwell native, said.
Novosad bought the building in 2018 with hopes of saving the original structure, but demolition and restoration were the only options.
“The strategic planning for how to clean and remove, how to take the building apart and save the pieces we wanted to, and to be able to restore in-house and catalog the pieces we removed," said Jancik.
182,000 bricks were taken down, hand scraped, and used to rebuild the structure.
Jancik told 15 ABC they measured the original window locations and sizes so they could keep that the same.
“Using all of those measurements we rebuilt the building itself and laced that into the original facade.”
It has been a years-long project to create something new by honoring the old.
“It’s very impactful to downtown and hopefully it's gonna encourage more interest in restoration, preservation and just protection of, and you know saving of, what we do have left downtown," said Jancik.
15 ABC asked both Novosad and Jancik about how exciting the restoration project has been.
“We've had a lot of great feedback and everyone's excited because they don't want to see the the city, you know, deteriorate," said Novosad.
“I would agree, there's definitely a new optimism I think in downtown in general," said Jancik.
Optimism created by more than just a building.
“Having people walking, shopping, building businesses, it speaks to me to the heart of the community and allows people to have maybe a better understanding of what this community is other than a pass through on a highway," said Jancik.
