We’re starting to see more dramatic, finished changes to the El Moore. The biggest addition this week was the pouring of the parking lot (just in time before the freezing weather set in!). In the greenhouse, a new stone base wraps around the exterior, taken from sandstone curbs that had been removed from nearby Prentis Street. A new brick floor was begun in the greenhouse’s interior. Work continued on the sandstone fence posts that will support the fence around the perimeter of the building. On top of the roofs of the cabins, final touches were made to the solar panel frames.
The beautiful balconies of the El Moore had been damaged prior to our ownership of the building, and needed to be replaced. Just as we were searching for matching material, we heard that the First Unitarian Church in Detroit had burned down. We learned that the church and the El Moore had been built within 2 years of each other and both were made of the same red sandstone. We were able to obtain large blocks of sandstone and converted them into our new balcony material.
The rooftop cabins also saw the addition of wood floors. We obtained the wood from Reclaim Detroit, a company that deconstructs homes in the Detroit area and sells useable material to people like us. Our wood came from homes in Detroit, Highland Park and Hamtramck. Because the wood came to us in 3 widths (2×4, 2×6, 2×8), our floors have 3 sizes of wood, similar to the varied wood sizes in the floors at the Green Garage.
So enough talk, let’s get to this week’s pictures.
