Published: May 21, 2008 11:43 pm            

Owners of Coffee Grounds receive Historic Preservation award

TERRE HAUTE — A bit of Terre Haute history is now being served with every cup of coffee at the Coffee Grounds downtown.

Terre Haute Landmarks Inc. has awarded its 2008 preservation award to the owners of the coffee house at 423 Wabash Ave.

The historic restoration “just needed to be done,” said Pete Wilson, who owns the Coffee Grounds with his wife, Jackie. Restoration work on the facade of the 19th-century, three-story structure began more than a year ago, he said.

In addition to restoring the facade of Coffee Grounds, which dates back to 1890, Wilson and his wife Jackie also have restored the adjoining facade at neighboring 421 Wabash Ave., which is home to Revolutions, a music shop.

The Wilsons have worked to restore the building to look much as it did 100 years ago. An ornate stone marker near the top of the building reads 1890; however, local historian Mike McCormick, interim president of Terre Haute Landmarks, believes the main part of the structure may be even older.

Terre Haute Landmarks presented the Wilsons with a plaque marking their achievement Wednesday evening at an open house at the Coffee Grounds.

The plaque was designed by local artist Patrick Titzer and was made to look like the building’s facade.

“They took the facade back to what it looked like in the 1890s,” said Marlene Lu of Terre Haute Landmarks Inc.

Several different businesses have been housed at 421 and 423 Wabash in the past 100 years. According to past editions of the Terre Haute City Directory, 423 Wabash Ave. was home to a root beer and sandwich shop in the 1950s and an Italian restaurant in the 1980s. In earlier years, Adolph Arnold operated a business out of the building for decades, McCormick said.

“I’m not the only one” refurbishing historic buildings downtown, Pete Wilson said. Several other building owners on the same block are making improvements, he noted. When completed, “The whole block will look nice,” he said.

Facade work is under way to improve the front of the Saratoga restaurant and the small building at 425 Wabash Ave. on the east side of Coffee Grounds, said George Azar, owner of the property. “We hope it’s going to look really nice,” Azar said. “Hopefully it will encourage others” to do the same, he said.

Plans also are in the works to improve the facade of Ellis Law at neighboring 417 and 419 Wabash Ave., said Kal Ellis, an owner of the building.

“It will change our building tremendously,” Ellis said. “We’ve been wanting to do this for a long time.”

Many of the buildings in the 400 block of Wabash Avenue are three stories tall and many had apartments or law offices in the upper floors in decades past. Upper floors of the current Ellis Law building at 4191⁄2 Wabash contained eight different tenants in 1902, according to the Terre Haute City Directory of that year.

In all, improvements or historic restoration work have taken place on 44 downtown facades in the past several years, said Mike Kass, housing and community facilities coordinator for the Terre Haute Department of Redevelopment. The Department of Redevelopment has worked with several downtown property owners to help them receive grants from the Urban Enterprise Association to help cover restoration costs, Kass said.

“We’re just excited to see people reinvesting in their historic buildings,” said Andrew Conner, executive director of Downtown Terre Haute Inc. “I’m delighted to see the interest and excitement by these building owners,” he said.

The Wilsons bought Coffee Grounds more than two years ago, Pete Wilson said. They bought the adjoining section of their building, 421 Wabash Ave., about a year ago, he said.

“The more time you spend [in the building] they more you like it,” Wilson said. While work on the front of the building is practically finished, more work is taking place inside, he said. In fact, Wilson said, he is even hoping to turn the upper floors into six apartments eventually.

New windows are planned for the rear of Coffee Grounds and Revolutions to make the building “weather tight,” Wilson said, “so we can make sure it’s going to be here for another 100 years.”

Arthur Foulkes can be reached at (812) 231-4232 or arthur.foulkes@tribstar.com.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.