In the News!

Nonprofit reuses bits of history

Salvagers are in demand; warehouse is packed with historical fixtures discarded in the rush to modernize.

Sunday, March 12, 2006

BY LISA M. COLLINS

A century-old nunnery is going down on Michigan and Livernois. But not to worry, its 30-foot-long solid maple doors decorated with panes of thick swirled green glass won't go to the dump. Not if Architectural Salvage Warehouse of Detroit has anything to do with it.

The year-old nonprofit salvages historical fixtures -- from wood paneling to oak mantles to leaded glass windows to light fixtures, from bathtubs to an 1886 marble sink from a Brush Park home -- and sells them from a warehouse packed with goodies and hidden off a back alley at Grand River and Warren.

Prices are below retail, and what you'll find at many antique shops or salvage sellers in Chicago or New York -- such as a lovely $300 wooden piano, an $8 lighting fixture, a $650 bay window and several $125 solid wood doors.

The warehouse also offers stacks of lumber and other building supplies as well as historical finds.

"People are screaming for the kind of services we provide," said Architectural Salvage President Carolyn Mosher. Developers, architects and homeowners provide the warehouse with its goods -- they'll call Architectural Salvage when properties are getting demolished or redeveloped, Mosher said. Most of the materials come from the suburbs, where land is more valuable than houses. A homeowner or developer can contract with the nonprofit to strip the property. The process is labor-intensive and more expensive than demolition, but the homeowner gets a tax credit for the fair market value of the donated home or the materials removed from it.

Customers travel from Ann Arbor and rural parts Midwest to check out the resulting finds for home renovation projects. Susan and Rick Linder of Dearborn walked into Architectural Salvage on Friday to check out the nunnery doors.

"I'm building an addition to my garage for my antique cars," said Rick Linder, a retired Ford Motor Co. executive. "And this establishment is looking for bookcases for me."

The warehouse can also help folks in need -- Mosher deals in furnaces and recently sold one for $200 to a woman whose home burned down.

The nonprofit was formed to curb waste, especially of historical interior design elements. Architectural Design's Web site says that, in 2004, more than 2,600 housing units were demolished in Detroit and more than 4,000 in its suburbs.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates only about 20 to 30 percent of construction and demolition debris is recovered for reuse and recycling, the site says.

Architectural Salvage can save 85 percent of a house from heading to the landfill, Mosher said.

"Whenever we get a chance we rush to the scene, because we are trying to save historic Detroit," she said.

Mosher said she's dedicated to not contributing to a Detroit problem: stripping and stealing features from Detroit's grand old architecture. The nonprofit promised historic preservation groups it would take only items it retrieves itself or those donated from reputable sources.

The warehouse isn't just a store -- it's part of an artistic/renovation movement in historic Woodbridge and Corktown, Mosher says. The nonprofit has been so successful, it's expanding into the adjacent two-story building on April 1.

Architectural Design Warehouse is at 4885 15th St., just off Warren and Grand River. It can be tricky to find -- the entrance is not on Warren but off a parking lot in back. The parking lot is across the street from St. Leo's Catholic Church on 15th Street.

Find out more and get directions at www.aswdetroit.org.

You can reach Lisa M. Collins at (313) 222-2072 or lcollins@detnews.com.

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