Puttering in the Study

Hub: restored cabinet/work table

One of the neatest finds in the office was a mahogany-topped rolling supply cabinet/work table that had been in use previously as shelving.  It has drawers and a pull-out ledge on each side.  This picture shows it in place before renovations started at lower left - it had been fixed in place, its feet covered with baseboards, and shelving added. 

During demolition we discovered it wasn't a stationary cabinet but in fact was on wheels.  During our first trial in September it was everyone's favorite piece of furniture, handling dinner on top and all the trial team's supplies below, as shown here.  (It also makes a great bar for receptions).

  In the last couple of weeks we finally got around to giving it the restoration it needed, removing the baseboard molding to reveal the original feet, replacing the top molding with custom-edged mahogany to match the top, removing the metal runner that at one time most have held a glass display cabinet, and refinishing the whole thing in the same red mahogany as the rest of the woodwork.

It's now a great addition to the atrium work space on the guest offices side, as it can be wheeled around to serve as a stand-up work space for files, hold supplies (if we had any paper forms or supplies, I'd keep them there) and act as a buffet or bar for meals or receptions. 

And yes, the glass does say "Smith Smart Shoes" and no, it has nothing to do with me.  Just another interesting coincidence!

 

Hub: the boys try out their room

As I've posted previously, our three boys have their own room at the office, an upstairs nook behind my office where they can play games on the computer and work on homework, with each having his own study carrel-type space and hatch (note the black square in the wall) overlooking my office.  They finally got to try it out last week, and really enjoyed it.

They haven't decorated yet (at the old office they had all sorts of school drawings and things posted) but we'll get those up soon enough, I'm sure.

Hub: new signage for guest offices

While I was in Tyler in meetings and hearings the past couple of days, the last of the signage for the guest offices side of the office went up - and it looks great.  On the outside it consists of a red and white Hub logo (matching the large sign) on the front door and window signage with phone and website, www.marshalltexashub.com. 

Inside, we have the same logo on the glass doors to the conference room, but this time in the more traditional gold with black shadowing. 

This is a deliberate throwback to the gold and black lettering that was always on the glass display windows of the store, as shown here in the 1908 picture of the 113 side (look above Sam Wolff's head) and on the 111 side in the 1950's (note the black tile).

Snowy day at the office / shoe boxes going up

Nice to see snow on the Hub outside this morning!  I'm also probably the only lawyer that spent part of my lunch putting up shoe boxes over on the west side.  We are fitting out the shelving on the rent side with "faux" show boxes to match up with the 1928 photo we've been using as a guide.  Downstairs we have file boxes on the file shelving (with Hub logo) to show how that's designed to hold the dozens of exhibit boxes trial teams usually have, and upstairs the original shoe store shelving is being filled out with shoe boxes wrapped in brown paper with Hub logos on the end.  The pictures give an impression, but it's really much more effective in person at giving the impression of two stories of shelving.

Hub update - 111 ceiling cove molding

The 111 side had a 1928 (we assume) metal ceiling with a classical egg-and-dart cove molding.  It was completely concealed under a later ceiling and storage galleries, as shown in these pictures from last fall.   The second picture shows the view looking forward from up in the mezzanine, which by then was attic storage.  Note the shelves on the right - they are the shelves in the top left of the 1928 photo.  Unfortunately, unlike the 1897 ceiling on the 113 side, which we left in place, patching as needed, we weren't able to keep the 111 side's metal ceiling.  Look top left in the below picture from the front during demolition, and you can see the same shelves as - again - in the 1928 photo.

The 111 side ceiling was much thinner metal and had a great deal more damage, so we took the entire ceiling down, then put the best pieces back up around the old skylight in the mezzanine area - forward of that is sheet rock. 

Last week Jim finished up the ceiling in the skylight area by adding short sections of the original cornice from the shelving to the new ceiling.  The picture below shows these short sections, as well as the restored shelving, letting you compare the 1928 appearance above, the 2009 appearance, and current.  And oh, by the way, here's a current picture looking forward from the mezzanine showing how different things look now - compare to the dimly lit attic is was a year ago.  No more attic!

Louis W. Kariel, Sr. flagpole back up at the Hub

Passersby might have noticed one last exterior change to the Hub recently, and that is the installation of the new flagpole on the 111 side.  As with everything else associated with this building, there's a story:

When we first inspected the roof of the building, we found a rusted old flagpole on the backside of the 111 side parapet.  We know from the building's history that the parapet was rebuilt and raised in 1928 when Louis Kariel Sr. moved the shoe store to 111 from 113, where it had been since his uncle Mose Weisman opened it in 1897.  And photos such as this from the late 1910s don't show it, so physical and photographic evidence makes clear that the flagpole dates from after 1928.   The bolt holding it up had either been loosened to allow it to rotate down to the left  (where you can see it in this photo under the arrow), or it had simply fallen over - we don't know which. 

Now the other interesting thing about this picture is what it shows across the street - the old First National Bank building built around the same time has a flagpole behind its parapet as well - it actually has one on both the Houston and Austin sides of the building.  And so does Old City Hall on the square behind it, as shown in this old postcard - and again, built around the same time.  Even Louis Sr.'s dad's store - the Marcus Kariel Clothing Store down the street from the Hub had a center-roof flagpole, as you can see in this picture (it is the large two-story building on the other side of Logan & Whaley in the 1910's picture, and so did the old Marshall National Bank building, flying a whopper in this photo.

So the physical evidence indicated that there was at one time a flagpole over the store, and it dated from after 1928, i.e. the time period when Mr. Kariel, Sr. ran the store, and was part of a tradition of local businesses (as well as civic buildings) of having flagpoles, including on this block of East Austin.

Louis W. Kariel, Sr., the second owner of the Hub Shoe Store, was a veteran of World War I (and a major in the Texas State Guard in World War II), and served as chairman of the Marshall city commission of Marshall from 1935 to 1947.  He wasn't a merchant by training, he was actually trained as a chemist at the University of Texas in Austin (graduated in 1917) and worked for several sugar companies before returning to Marshall in 1924 to help care for his mother, Hub owner Mose Weisman's sister — at which point he and another man bought the store from their uncle. Four years later Mr. Kariel bought out his partner and ran the store until 1969 when he handed the reins over to Louis, Jr.  (naturally he kept coming in to work for a few more decades). 

My guess from what I've read about Mr. Kariel is that his attitude about flags was a little like mine - if I'm going to have a building, by God it's going to have a flagpole on it.

It took several months looking for just the right product, but we eventually found a flagpole that screwed into the back side of a parapet, and a solar-powered flagpole light to light Old Glory at night time.  I have to admit that it's not the most visible flag downtown, but it brings the 111 building one step closer to what it probably looked like during the 1940's when Mr. Kariel ran the store and waited for Louis Junior to quit fooling around at the University of Texas and in the Navy and come on back and help out with the store.

So if you're visiting the Hub and you see some pictures of a distinguished looking older gentleman in dark glasses, that's who it is - the Hub's second owner and proud UT graduate and veteran, Louis W. Kariel, Sr.  The guy who put the flagpole on the building.

Hub update - 113 side complete (more or less) & kids' room finished

I can never say it is totally complete because there's always something else to be done, but the 113 side, which has our offices, is about as complete as it is going to get, now that the kids' room upstairs is furnished.  But I did want to include this panoramic view of the 113 side as it originally appeared as the Hub Shoe Store in about 1908, then last October the day we bought the building, and currently.

We are still decorating the 113 side, which primarily means covering the roof of the conference room with foliage (for some reason I feel like it needs to look like a Victorian greenhouse up there) and waiting on the boys to stop by and decorate their room up in back with posters and drawings.  But the ladder is done , the counters are in , and the rug is down.

Hub - Christmas lights up (and side by side comparison to 2009)

Here's the view from outside at night as of last night, with the wreath and parapet lights up.  We're still adding some to the windows on the 113 side, and you can see the blinds that are now (finally) up on the 111 side.

Just for comparison, the picture on the right shows the store last October before we started work.  (Yes, the Hub is rotated back to its original direction).  And the picture below shows the original storefronts after the aluminum facade came down.

"Hub offices" sign up

We had to take the awning down temporarily to get it up (which we needed to do anyway to patch the stucco over the black tile) but the "Hub offices" sign is now up, replacing the original sign that's now on display inside.  This picture shows the original with the original black from a year ago when we had just taken the aluminum siding down.

Hub mezzanine - staining complete (well, except for the door)

The door is finally up, and the patching, priming and staining on that is about to begin, but I wanted to post a few pictures showing the mezzanine with the woodwork at long last complete and stained, with the 1928 photo that was our guide for construction for comparison.

The view looking forward and from the balconies is also shown.  Floors aren't done yet (haven't figured out how much work to do on them just yet) and obviously everything is still extremely dusty.