The southwest corner of W. Main and S. Base Streets has a documented history back to 1879, when William Taylor was a manufacturer and dealer of harnesses.  Through the years, the buildings located at 201, 203, and 205 W. Main housed a wide variety of "friendly enterprises,"  selling cigars, groceries, paint, automobile parts, furniture, horse robes and whips, and junk, to name a few.  Two other enterprises are of special note:  furnaces and food.

In 1930, Riep Brands opened a sheet metal works, fabricating items for furnaces and spouting, at 203.  In 1945, he added building 205 and sold furnaces, oil burners, stokers, electrical appliances, washers, and refrigerators.

The corner building, 201, was either a grocery store, meat market, or cafe from 1903 to 1959, with the exception of 1948 to 1950, when it was used to sell linoleum, paint, and venetian blinds.

Today, this corner includes three contiguous buildings that now are being transformed from Brands Heating & Cooling into Bob and Debby Vaughn's bakery cafe, with loft-style apartments above.

Vaughn Property Management purchased the buildings in January 2010.  They spent six months planning, designing the spaces, and thoroughly studying the Historic Preservation Ordinance, as it applies to the exterior of downtown buildings.  On June 25, 2010, the couple requested from the Morrison Historic Preservation Commission--and have since received--a Certificate of Appropriateness for the remodel.

This approval is due to the total design packet of information the couple prepared:

• a completed "Request for Certificate of Appropriateness"
• photos of the existing buildings
• civil drawings of the new site work
• architectural drawings of the proposed rehabilitation
• a 3-D model of the exterior building changes.

Bob Vaughn wrote in the request packet, "The three structures vary in age from 110...to 89 years.  None of the materials used in the construction of the original structures exists on the market today.  Our proposal is to

• bring the two upstairs apartments to loft-style living areas,
• provide a ground-level cafe bakery business utilizing all three buildings in a contiguous manner, and
• open the two basements under 201 and 203 into usable, dry storage to sustain the business."

The third goal is well under way; the first was begun this month.  There is no immediate date when the Brands business will vacate the main floor and storage in the 205 upstairs area; they are allowed two years to move to another location.

Old features (reopened upper windows, cornices, and reconstructed turret cone) meld with modern (emergency exits and a handicapped-accessible ramp entrance.)  New windows, awnings, and brick are part of the design.

Vaughn assigned August Ufkin the task of creating a three-dimensional model of the redesign to share with the HPC.

According to Vaughn, the model shows "a clear picture or the final structures, however, [it does] not show the sustainability plan for energy efficiency.  The use of solar cell panels for electricity production, located on the roof of 201 [W. Main Street], will generate enough electricity to power several devices in the cafe bakery, and excess will be sold back to ComEd.  Extensive use and application of energy conservation will be utilized and on display, as part of the business model."

In addition, regarding the varied products the Vaughns will purchase, efforts will be made to refuse those that are not biodegradable, reuse items when possible, and recycle items that can be used again.

A chute at the south side allows materials to exit the building into a dumpster on W. Market Street.  Demolition of the east apartment began in mid-July 2010; it contains seven small rooms, with a curved turret niche overlooking City Hall and Hardee's.  Four rooms currently run south from W. Main to W. Market.  The plan is to create two bedrooms in the new loft.  City of Morrison Code Inspector Pete Whiting, left, discusses fragile window glass with Vaughn.

Vaughn took a phone call in the stripped kitchen.  This area will remain a kitchen.  Powdery, gray insulating material spills out of the wall onto the floor at the right.  A new staircase with electric lift will bring the resident to the apartment.

Lath, plaster on walls and ceilings, and interior brick were exposed.

Vaughn explained, "The primary goal is to rehabilitate, not restore, these [three] structures.  However, the original owner, Mary (Mrs. William) Taylor, and Riep Brands, the ancestor of the primary occupant (Brands Heating & Cooling), who purchased two of the buildings in 1930, are the heritage worth preserving."

Furthermore, Bob and Debby Vaughn's "goal includes a commitment to assist those interested in rehabilitating structures located in the Morrison Downtown Historic District.  We will have learned a lot during this process!" he stated.