The Inside Story

From the interior of the cinder block space shown in the prior post, new light falls on a previously dark interior. This space will become a kitchen and living room for what we affectionately refer to as UNIT FOUR. At 1300 square feet, the view from the unit on to the roof-top deck expands this space dramatically. Your basic ranch home picture window - NOT!

A New View...

Picture yourself on a roof-top deck located between two buildings. You have walked out from a landing area at the top of the stairway from the first floor. The deck faces northwest, overlooking railroad tracks and a soon to be completed golf course practice complex. On your left a cinder block wall gives way to a series of windows that opens up a spectacular view for one of our residential units.

Rooms With a View

From the outside, headers are installed along the block wall prior to window installation. The area to the right of this wall will become our lofts' roof-top patio area. In the distance a blanket of snow conceals the verdant green of the driving range of Benton Harbor's soon to be completed Habor Shores Golf Course.

The newly installed windows provide welcome light to the warehouse interior.

Sealtest Village Store

The Arctic Dairy was purchased in the early 1940's by the Sealtest Corporation. This crumbling cardboard sign features an ad for the Sealtest Village Store, a radio program that aired in the late forties. The comedy radio show, sponsored by Sealtest, depicted the antics and interplay of a proprietor of a general store and her customers. Eve Arden and Jack Haley were well known radio personalities that moved on to star in the emerging media of television. Two posters and a single logo glass are all that remain from Sealtest's tenure in the building.

Artifacts...

With the demolition phase under way, a limted number of conversation pieces are revealed. Perhaps the most noteworthy is the motor driven cable freight elevator used by the Ice Cream Company. There are no living oral accounts of the actual operation of this device, though it seems in many ways to be ready to assume a re-newed assignment. The motor, atop the elevator shaft has not seen the light of day for decades, but is in remarkably good condition. Alas, there is no place for this relic and it is removed - unceremoniously. The platform removal is accomplished in less than twenty minutes!

Making Places

Our project will exploit a total of about 12,000 square feet of underutilized and functionally obsolete warehouse space (archaically wired, inadequately heated and poorly roofed; previous facade "updates" have covered a number of window openings).

Four unique residential spaces ranging from 1300 to 2000 sf in size and an additional 3000 sf commercial space at street level will be created. Additionally, garage space and shared common areas for use by the residential units will be developed. Common areas include a 18 x 15 ft fitness room and a walk-out roof-top deck that measures approximately 38 x 54. Only a portion of the roof space will be devoted to patio, while the remaining space will feature a green, low-profile 'live-roof'. A casualty of the project will be the demolition of our dilapidated pipe shed shown above.

The Project - From 30,000 Feet

Given the long term viability of the surrounding area, we have elected to proceed with an extensive rehabilitation project of the former ice cream factory. The vision: Four urban loft condominium residences and a single street level commercial space. Industrial, eclectic, and raw. Exposed I-beams, brick and duct work. Stained concrete floors. Skylights. Common fitness room. Shared roof-top patio. Hmmmm.

The potential is evident. The vision is clear. The neighborhood is screaming for more living spaces. We shall transform what has been neglected and under utilized into spaces that invite, stimulate and reward. The line forms here.

The Arts District

The area of downtown Benton Harbor known as The Arts District had its beginnings in the early 1990's. Officially referred to as "community renewal through the arts" the district was the focus of investment by a consortium of public and private organizations and individuals. Beginning with willing artists and adventurous entrepeneurs, the neighborhood is now home to a dozen new businesses and arts related non-profits. Entertainment, Restaurants, Coffee Shops and a world class micro-brewery have opened eyes and stimulated interest and excitement in this corner of town. In 2008 The Arts District benefited tremendously from a comprehensive infrastructure and streetscape renovation. The project has provided visual testimony to the viability of the neighborhood.

The Demise

As heavy industry gave way to modern products and processes, (heavy castings were replaced by lighter and easier to produce die castings), the foundries that once dotted the landscape fell on hard times. High unemployment of an un-skilled labor force plagued the city for years. Urban blight descended on the City of Benton Harbor. Brammall Supply stood watch from its location on Water St. as retail stores closed, occupancy levels plumetted and vacant, boarded storefronts bemoaned the decline of the vibrant town that thrived just a few years before.

The History and the 'Hood

Like most well established industrial supply companies, Brammall Supply began its business in the heart of the city's industrial district. Surrounded by heavy industry such as foundries and heavy machinery manufacturers, the Brammall warehouse occupied a strategic space near both the Benton Harbor ship canal (Water Street) and a sprawling spiderweb of railroad spurs and side-tracks. Passenger train service was available at the station a short distance from the Brammall warehouse. A variety of hotels, bars and restaurants lined the nearby streets. Throngs of visitors supported this bustling urban community - frequenting such well known hostels as The Vincent, Dwan, Saltzman, Michigan and Benton Hotels and the nearby bars and taverns - the Ideal, Lions, Highway and Depot, among others. All within a few blocks of each other!

At Brammall Supply, steel pipe, cable, chain, fittings and heavy goods were off-loaded directly from freight cars (by hand) behind the warehouse. As transportation gradually shifted from rail, ship and barge to truck, the canal fell out of favor and the network of rail spurs were removed. Still, industry thrived in Benton Harbor through the middle half of the century.

The Project - Early Considerations

Following the departure of two long term tenants in 2007, the future of the "Arctic Building" was contemplated. Having seen no improvements in over 50 years, the structure, though sound, was functionally obsolete and its roof was demanding significant attention. What to do? Demolition of the entire building was abhorent to the owners. Continued neglect of the aging roof system would only lead to further degradation of the former ice cream factory. Could it be rehabilitated? For what purpose? At what cost? Where was the neighborhood going? What could the future hold for this building?
The questions were daunting. The answers were revealed in 2008 in the form of an extensive infrastructure project in what is now known as the Benton Harbor Arts District.

Hill Ice Cream Company

The northeast portion of the Brammall Supply warehouse was built in 1922 by the Hill Ice Cream Company. This was the same year that the well-known and now lost Liberty Theatre was built. Owner Leon Hill constructed the two story building for the staggering sum of $100,000. The state of the art ice cream factory featured all-masonry construction, poured concrete floors, and several cork-lined refrigeration rooms. The ice cream company was sold to the Artic Dairy of Detroit, Michigan in 1930. Sealtest Ice Cream acquired the Arctic Dairy in about 1950 and continued operations until the late 50's when the building was sold to Brammall Supply.
For the next 50+ years, the building was home to a variety of commercial tenants. No improvements were made to the building during this time.

The Warehouse

The Brammall Supply Company brownstone warehouse as it appeared in about 1960. Upon closer examination you may notice that the building exhibits three separate brownstone facades. Each is a separate building constructed at different times. The most forward portion is the oldest structure, built in 1922 as the Hill Ice Cream Company.

Background

Brammall Supply Company was founded in 1873 by pioneer tinsmith and hardware dealer Edward Brammall. An English immigrant from Sheffield, England, Brammall moved from Chicago to Benton Harbor in 1869. At around this time, the village of Benton Harbor was in the process of draining the swampland of the floodplain of the St. Joseph River by building a ship canal parallel to the city's present day Main St. The canal project, completed and expanded upon over the span of many years, provided the economic activity that prompted Edward Brammall to establish a fledgling hardware supply business. The canal provided a means of transportation for the fruit farms that had been established in the moderate climate and rich soils of Southwestern Michigan. Over the years, the supply company established by Brammall evolved into a well known purveyor of farm, plumbing and industrial supplies. Brammall Supply survives today as a leading supplier of cutting tools and abrasives to the metal working industries of Southwest Michigan and Northwest Indiana.