Pikus Building – Milford, Delaware Historical Restoration

This historical restoration was a new challenge for us when we took it on. This century old building had been in the Pikus family for generations. Unfortunately, the time came to sell the building. The family did look hard for someone who would love the building and restore it before they sold it. Although the building was much loved, It had decades of deferred maintenance and would be a difficult project. The business in the building, Lou’s Bootery, was where everyone in Milford got their first pair of shoes. That led to a lot of love for the store in the community, but not necessarily a thriving business that would support the level of renovations required for a new owner. The upstairs was just two stories of shoe storage.

From a purely economic standpoint, it seemed like more trouble than it was worth. Fortunately, the family found someone with the experience and love for restoring historical buildings that this building needed.

We were brought on, probably, partially because our offices were just around the corner. While we’d done historical renovations before We’ll be the first to admit this was the first time we dealt with Historic Preservation Tax credits. Luckily, the client had a lot of experience dealing with the State Historic Preservation Office and mentored us in working with them. Those credits turned out to be critical as the building was in rough shape.

Initial Challenges

The first day of demolition involved dumpsters full of ancient shoes that had come with the structure that filled the top two floors. Shortly thereafter, we had the building reviewed by a structural engineer. Why did we do that? Because there had been a large pent roof added to the building 50-60 years prior. That roof had pulled the wall one or two feet out of plumb. That might not sound that bad, but it was actually possible to fall between the floor and the front wall. The engineer felt that this wall could collapse at any moment, dropping 3 stories of brick out onto the side walk and the main street through town. So, down that wall came. Immediately.

This brings up the second challenge. The building was much loved. It was on the most prominent corner in town, and everyone in town had gotten shoes there. Maybe just one pair when they were a baby, but everyone had an opinion about that building. Taking down that wall brought out tons of rumors. It was fun to hear all of the horrible things we were doing to this landmark of town. Everyone had an opinion on what we were doing, and almost none of them actually knew anything. At one point, a well meaning neighbor called our office and told us off for not rebuilding that front wall out of brick. Of course, once the stucco was installed, you can’t tell that we ever removed that wall or rebuilt it with modern materials. The fact that the demolition was authorized quickly but the building permits to put it back were delayed many times didn’t help, of course.

Dealing with the state historical preservation office, we learned a few things. To get the tax credits, we had to restore the windows rather than replace them with something more energy efficient. We had a really good scare when they told us we had to save the flooring as well. The floor structure had already been completely removed, but luckily, termite damage was extensive and well documented, and acceptable to convince them of the necessity. The damage was so bad, that the original 8×12 solid oak girder that ran down the center of the building could be lifted by one hand. It was just a honeycomb having been feasted on over the years by the bugs. In fact, almost every thing below the roof level that wasn’t brick was removed and replaced due to insect damage or just rot.

Costs of Historical Work

In fact, with the amount of repairs that the building needed, it would have been far cheaper to replace the entire structure as a whole. We had all of the aforementioned repairs. In addition, we had to upgrade the foundations because it turned out the corner of the building was in a flood zone. We had to deal with the fact that the building turned out to be originally a two story building that had had the third story added. Restoring it to match the image we found in the town archives from the turn of the previous century was a real challenge. We had to custom mill some trim work and careful detailing of the storefronts was essential. Even with the tax credits, we probably barely broke even over a new build on the site. Of course, even the partial demolition made us town pariahs for a year, if we had advocated for knocking it down, we might have been tarred and feathered. Besides, not throwing out the brick walls and roof was the more sustainable choice. That’s a lot less to go into a landfill.

By comparison, refitting the top two floors into apartments was much simpler. We had to get a conditional use from the town, but luckily, the zoning didn’t require parking as there is a public lot across the street. We managed to salvage a fair amount of the tin ceiling we found under the dropped ceiling and used it to finish out part of the ceiling of the commercial space.

In the end, the project turned out extremely well. It was a lot of care and attention to detail for 18 months and a bit of negotiating (with the fire marshal, state historical preservation office, and building officials as well as with the various gods of renovation who all enjoyed toying with us.) However, we learned a ton and we managed to save a beloved building in the downtown which has seen constant occupancy since the renovations. Our only regret is that we did not get great pictures of this building, especial as a process. Especially as it is about 3 blocks from our offices so it’s not like we never got by, but at least it is very prominent and everyone in town knows this place.