AMARILLO, TEXAS -- Drive through any city in the Panhandle, and you'll probably see one or two old buildings that
are in desperate need of a renovation. Many of these structures hold an historic place in each town, but all too often, they're not saved and become an eyesore or a hazard.
In the Panhandle Spirit, we found an old building that's been saved and is now up for a state award, because not only has it been saved, it's been given a new lease on life.
Passing trains are a testament to the old Ted Lokey oil company building northeast of the old railroad depot in Amarillo. In it's heyday, petroleum products were offloaded on site but in the last decade or so, it was unoccupied and was on the edge of being just another old structure that needed to be torn down, according to Jonathan Morris with Charles Lynch Architects.
"It was in bad shape, homeless people living here, water damage, been vacant for about 10 years."
Jonathan and his coworkers at Charles Lynch Architects are on a mission to try and save a lot of these old historic structures before it's too late.
"We have several projects in small panhandle town, it's a great joy to try and save them."
They are a part of the landscape and in many cases, cities and towns grew up around them. In this building, just about everything's been renovated. They sandblasted everything to get it back to the original facade. They literally raised the roof, letting in more natural light and just below it on one side built a loft to over look the structure. The old elevator still moves between floors, and the lower level new sports a break room and office space for future tenants.
And all of this work has been noticed. Center City presented them a 20-thousand dollar grant to help along the way and the structure is now a finalist in the Best Renovations category in the Texas Downtown Association awards program, according to Beth Duke, executive director with Center City Amarillo.
"These historic buildings, once they're gone, they're gone if you tear it down and make a parking lot, that's it. I want people to think outside the box and find ways we can save them."
To the renovators, it's a chance to save a piece of something irreplaceable...
"It was not a good site, but we improved the building and we improved the area around the building.
And by saving these recognizable shells, we're also saving our history.
"Most towns have these old buildings with amazing architecture, and they're absolutely worth saving."I would say we should for historical purposes.
There are three buildings in the state up for the renovation award. The winner will be announced next month in Wichita Falls. And last year, the Courtyard Marriot in downtown Amarillo won 1st place in the Best Adaptive Reuse category.
