Views of the work late last month (Marion Savic photo left, others Civil War Picket) |
Of course, living on the Southern Atlantic coast brought
the requisite heat and humidity, especially when you toil outside or in
unairconditioned places.
Kasper was dealing with both when my wife and I
recently stopped by Darien, Ga., late one morning to check on the extensive
restoration of the Adam Strain Building -- a tabby structure that survived the
controversial burning of the Georgia town during the Civil War.
The Strain, damaged in the fire, has stood amid palm trees on a bluff of the small port city since circa 1813-1815. Tabby ruins of other businesses lie just below the site and Darien’s famous shrimp fleet is just to the east.
Revitalizing the Strain is a labor of love for Milan and
Marion Savic, whose family operates a modern-day general store and restaurant
in Darien, about 60 miles below Savannah. The couple has spent three years and
no small amount of money to save and restore the building, which was long
vacant and in real danger of collapse.
For Kasper, 63, (right) and others working for Savannah-based
Landmark Preservation, restoring the Strain and an adjoining one-story building
is a labor of pure craftsmanship and sweat equity. The work is being supported by Ethos Preservation in Savannah.
Two hundred-plus years had done its work on the two-story
building. A wall has a pronounced lean, the back wall facing a creek was
hanging by a prayer and other areas were in need of structural stability – all
of that has been addressed and crews are currently working on rebuilding the back wall.
The 19th century Strain’s builders had their
own skills, using quality mortise and tenon joints and iron rods.
“They knew what they were doing,” said
Kasper.
The Savics are planning a nanobrewery, food service, event space, rooftop patio and an upstairs museum about the town’s rich history and culture. Dozens of artifacts found during the work, including a Civil War-era bullet, will be on display, Marion Savic says. The couple hope doors open for business in early 2024.
Crews early on stabilized the structure by shoring up the
walls and installing tie rods and plates – all aimed at strengthening the
picturesque and beloved landmark. They then put in a steel membrane of columns
and beams to add further support and will put in an elevator.
Kasper specializes in wood work and framing and a lot of
that was going in when we stopped. Where they can, he and carpenter Graham Johnston are reusing the Strain’s old yellow pine. But, as they say, when you use old
materials you have just one chance of getting it right.
“It has its challenges,” Johnston says
of the work. “Nothing is as straightforward as you think it.”
Besides its compelling exterior profile,
the Strain’s most fascinating draw is its use of tabby and stucco. The Adam Strain is one of few tabby
structures remaining on the Georgia coast and it was used throughout the
structure, including with bricks.
All the elements in the interior: Brick, tabby and wood (Picket photo) |
“Tabby buildings are different. You
can’t just drill holes through it,” says Kasper, whose work in Georgia includes
the Atlanta Preservation Center and Savannah City Hall.
As Kasper
explains it, the covering of tabby involves tossing a ball of lime on a,
interior wall and smoothing it with a trowel. “I learned it when I came down here,” says the builder, whose
son is three-time Olympic alpine skier Nolan Kasper.
The removal of the back wall yielded piles of tabby in the back of the building (right) that will be reused when the new wall goes up.
I first wrote about the effort to save the commercial
building in April 2020. This was the first time I have visited, and I found the
building, materials and construction techniques then and now to be fascinating.
The Strain building was used to store cotton prior to shipment in 1861 and 1862 before the Union naval blockade clamped down on Georgia’s coast. Darien’s destruction in 1863 by black troops, under orders from a virulently anti-slavery white officer, caused a howl of protest across the South and even in newspapers in the North.
Those favoring emancipation were split on
whether the act was barbarity or a necessary message. (The burning of Darien
was made famous in the 1989 film “Glory.”)
The Strain building survived the flames and was repaired after the war and saw a rebirth for several decades before it was used for storage following World War II.
It came within whiskers of being demolished
before the Savics stepped in and bought the property. Local
residents were integral in the effort, and there was a Facebook page dedicated
toward saving the landmark.
Part of the building looks like a cocoon beneath steel supports (Picket photo) |
Missy Brandt Wilson, a Darien native who owns a home there, while now living in Athens, Ga., said she expects the Strain will be an economic engine for the area. “We need it.”
And coastal Georgia historian and author Buddy
Sullivan tells me he has consulted with the Savics about the museum and says Darien
is “relying on tourism and
visitation for its economic survival and what the Savics are doing with the
Strain, as well as their continuing interest in our local culture, is the best
thing that has happened to us here in a very long time.”
I asked Marion Savic for an update on the restoration (old support star bolt at left). Her responses have been edited:
Q. Can you confirm how
the buildings will be used?
A. The one-story will house all the
operational equipment and rooms -- brewing, kitchen, bathrooms, lift, etc. The
Adam Strain first floor will be the brewery with a bar, seating inside and
outside on the back bluff patio. The brewery will offer a limited menu. The
second floor will house a nonprofit museum.
Q. Do you have a brewer
lined up yet? What style of beers might you provide and how many can the space
seat?
A. We do have a person lined up to do the
brewing, but I do not know the types of beers yet. He is not a brewmaster, but
has experience working for a brewery and with brewing. It will be a
nanobrewery, so a small operation that will be complemented with a selection of
locally crafted beer. We haven’t worked out the seating count yet. The space
inside is about 1,300 square feet.
Q. What kind of menu do
you expect for the restaurant? Lunch and dinner?
A. It will be a limited bar menu with
small bites, salads and artisan sandwiches. Our daughter-in-law, Chef
Megan Savic from The Canopy restaurant, will be
crafting the menu. (Milan and Marion Savic also own the Local Exchange market
in downtown Darien, not far from the Adam Strain).
One of several blueprints to guide restoration crews inside the Strain (Picket photo) |
A. We are in the early phases of
discussing the finish of the Adam Strain. I don’t have a name for the color
yet. It will be an historic finish and one that we have found while
removing layers during the restoration.
Q. When are your
anticipated openings for the brewery, restaurant, museum and event space?
A. We are hoping to complete the restoration by the end of the year and anticipate opening the brewery in early 2024.
Q. My understanding is
the interior of the Strain will have daubing lime over the tabby. The outside
of the building will be stucco. Is that right?
A. The tabby inside and out will be
covered with the traditional stucco.
Q. I
noticed the back wall is being fully reconstructed and the old tabby now in
piles will be reapplied. I knew that was a concern going in.
A. They knew the back wall would have to
be taken down and rebuilt. It was the most damaged and failing section of
the whole structure due to severe structural cracking. We hate to ever
have to take down anything, but there was no option and it was the only way to
save the building. It has taken a lot of time to take down and rebuild, which
adds to the overall duration of the project.
Q. I Also noticed the west wall has a lean (right) from all the years. Will patrons see that lean, how did you rectify the stability?
A. The lean will stay and everyone will see it if they look. They will jack the buildings a few millimeters and then tighten the rods, but it won’t be a noticeable difference relevant to the outward leaning of the wall.
The building is fully supported by the steel
membrane structure of columns, beams, and rods throughout.
Q. Joe pointed out a
grain hoist in the roof area. Have you learned anything about that and when it
was used? I knew the building was a cotton warehouse around the time of the
Civil War. Was this an additional service?
A. We don’t have information yet on the
hoist -- there is an open area in the floor under it so we assume that material
was hoisted up to the second floor. The building would have been used as a
warehouse, ship’s chandlery, mercantile, etc. Because of the two fires,
specific information has been hard to find.
Q. Can you tell us a
little more about the planned upstairs museum?
A. The museum will be the
history of Darien - Commerce from rice, cotton, and lumber to
fishing/shrimping, Architecture, Burning of Darien, Adam Strain finds and
stories from local people -- presented in an inclusive way.
The Strain is at the end (right) of a string of businesses (Picket photo) |
A. We’re very excited about the restoration and also entering the last six months of the project. We think it will be an incredible and priceless addition to the waterfront and city of Darien. It’s one of the oldest commercial tabby buildings left standing in Georgia and one of two buildings to survive the burning of Darien. We believe the finished project will attract visitors and history buffs from all over the country.
Patrons will get this rooftop view of bridge and creek below (Picket photo) |
No comments:
Post a Comment