Building Pictures

Here are some pictures of the Haight Street building.  I did a bunch of work there loading a donation to the Internet Archive, which was how I found out that the building was for sale.  Some of these pictures are from then and some were taken yesterday.  Enjoy!


First, a better shot of the exterior than what's up a Google street view.  As you can see, the building was painted just last month.  I'm sad that the original windows were replaced with those crappy aluminum ones but that's something we can fix later.

 
If you zoom way in and look at the top of the bay windows, you'll notice that we have a pair of "grotesques" on the front of the building (if they're not actually drain spouts, or at least full figures, they're not properly gargoyles).  I think they need a bit more accenting in the paint job (and maybe red LED in the eyes) but it is so damn cool to have them.

Of course, the big sign needs to go and be replaced with something that both suits the building better and doesn't block part of the windows.

Next up is a picture of the interior.  This was taken about ten feet inside the front door.  To give a sense of scale, the section at the rear is roughly 21' wide (the current store is 24' at the widest point).  Those record bins are about 50% wider than the shelves in the center of the bookstore.


(All those boxes are the records that were donated to the Internet Archive.  Jude, Salem and I carried all of them up from the basement.  Records are heavy.  It was not fun.)



This is the view out the back door of the shop.  The back yard is around 25' by 20' and, as you can see, quite overgrown.  But, with a little bit of work, I think it'll be very nice.  And what a perfect spot for Sunday barbecuing in the summer (or, actually, in the spring and fall).

Long term it might be possible to extend the building into that yard to gain some space.  I think a roof deck on top of it would be a very reasonable choice.

Last, but not least, a shot of the basement.  If you've seen the basement at the current store, you'll see immediately this this one is pure luxury.  It's got a real floor!  It's not falling-apart brick work!

This won't be public space but we'll put the office and storage down here along with my furniture shop.  According to the seller, it stays pretty dry in the winter, which puts it another big step up from our current basement.

I hope you enjoyed these pictures.  I'll post more as I get them.  It's going to be fun to watch the space change as we put it in order.