An historic three-story whisky warehouse dating to the 1860s has been reduced to just one story. We knew in May that the building’s future prospects didn’t look good as an emergency demolition order was posted on the front door, but building owner Dan Borsch didn’t want to let the building go so easily.
As issue was a shifting brick party wall that could have potentially caused a collapse. With one story left, the southern wall still leans slightly, but won’t cause the damage of a total collapse. The limestone facade is still intact, and could be salvaged.
Broken Sidewalk toured the building last fall. The structure was in better shape back then and filled with sturdy wooden beams and columns that 150 years ago help up barrels of whisky. We’re not sure what the future holds for the remaining one-story building, but demolition work was no longer apparent today, so it could be there a little while longer.
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I had an office in this building many years ago with architect Mose Putney. A couple young entrepreneurs ran a screen printing downstairs. The building drew a small community of creatives at a time when that term was years away from becoming an economic class and downtown was mostly “white collar” businesses with a failed urban mall and retail corridor. Sad to see the old digs look like this…
Thanks for the history, David. You no doubt remember the sturdy timbers in the building that held up hundreds of barrels of whiskey. Hopefully the area can rise as a creative hub once again.
I drove by that site a few weeks ago and the first story was still there. Do you know of any future plans for the site, Branden?