Couple rehab historic Alton buildings

ALTON, Ill. — The 110-year-old Snyder’s and remaining half of the adjacent Sears building slowly are getting their vintage character back, but with a modern flair for new uses.

A couple in their 30s are busy restoring brick and limestone walls; replicating a glass mosaic; preserving and staining tin ceilings; and putting in new windows, as just a small part of the work.

“I’m real excited for Alton; I can’t go anywhere without someone saying what a difference it makes downtown,” said Erin Frew, 36, of Godfrey.

Frew, along with her husband John, 37, bought the former Snyder’s dry goods building and the southern part of the old Sears structure from the city of Alton in February.

“I think it will make a difference,” she said.

They started work in March, after asbestos and lead paint was removed.

The city previously demolished the northern half of the former Sears building and installed a public parking lot on that space north to Fourth Street and on the east side. The city retained ownership of the parking lots and much of the property around the attached buildings, 301-05 Piasa St.

Once the Frews finish work on the merged buildings, they will move their businesses -- a retail shop to be renamed Frew’s Bridal Boutique on the first floor, and their online, business on the second floor (bestbridalprices.com ).

The couple also plans to open Modern Bambini, selling children’s clothing and toys, on the second floor.

“We have 20 employees. When the upstairs opens, we will double that,” Erin Frew said.

The couple worked closely with the city for months in planning the project before taking ownership to ensure the old building would be restored while keeping its character. Alton officials also wanted to keep some of the land for downtown shoppers’ and restaurant patrons’ parking.

Erin Frew said the couple’s goal is to finish the first phase of the work, renovating the first two floors of the three-story building, by the end of the year. However, she is due to have the couple’s second child in mid-September, and work will halt for three or four weeks while they care for the new baby.

The main entrance to the Frews’ shop will be on the north, remaining portion of the Sears building by the parking lot. That lobby/reception area has large windows to let in sunlight, with the doorway leading to the spacious bridal salon that will have 14 dressing rooms.

The largest dressing rooms will be for brides-to-be. Smaller dressing rooms across the room will be for attendants, mothers of the bride and groom, teenagers trying on prom dresses and shoppers for other special occasion dresses.

For the comfort of moms and friends helping the future bride decide on a dress, there will be sofas near the dressing rooms. Pedestals will be installed on which brides can see the full effect of the long gowns.

Ornate mirrors will brighten and decorate the exposed brick and limestone walls, which have been sandblasted, tuck-pointed and sealed. Space at the southernmost end, in the Snyder’s portion, will be used for tuxedo rental.

The bridal shop and tuxedo room have 7,500 square feet of floral patterned-tin ceilings that had layers of paint applied over the decades, later covered by dropped ceilings. John Frew said he used 10 tons of sand to blast off the paint. A golden-bronze finish is being applied to impart an elegant effect.

Some of the ceiling has rotted and has holes, so some areas have to be patched with pieces from other places that will not be visible.

“They don’t do replications,” Erin Frew said about her search for matching reproduction pieces. Rustic wooden beams will remain exposed to further add to the ambience.

New windows went in last week, with the large tempered glass storefront pieces coming later that will run along busy Piasa Street.

“We’ll have a nice window display,” she said.

She said the mouillion will remain - the wooden vertical dividers that support the large lower windows and smaller ones above them.

“We are trying to keep as much historical significance as we can,” she said.

The couple salvaged the old light fixtures, are painting the metal black and cleaning the opaque white glass globes that will be re-installed.

The building had a 100-foot-long, jagged antique glass mosaic above the windows along Piasa, which the couple replaced using glass from Erin Frew’s grandmother’s old bottles made at the former Owens-Illinois Glass Works in Alton.

They plan to hang a vertical sign with vintage typeface on the Piasa side to resemble the old Sears sign.

Back inside, on the north end of the bridal shop, an old dramatic split staircase leads to the second floor, which is taking shape.

John Frew is refinishing its hardwood floors. New drywall delineates the various online offices, from a call center, employee lounge, repacking and shipping rooms, laundry and a sewing room for retail customers’ alterations.

A number of the couple’s relatives and other local tradesmen are working on the project.

“We’ve come a long way,” he said.

The couple are undecided as to what they will do with the top, third floor that Erin Frew said had housed a trade school at one point; the striking corner turret goes up another story beyond that.

John Frew bought his mother’s business, Carole Frew’s Bridal and Tuxedo Shop at 200 W. Homer Adams Parkway in Godfrey, 13 years ago. With the successful 7-year-old online business in the same shopping complex, the couple said they needed much more space than their current 5,000 square feet in which to grow.

The “new” home has 27,000 square feet.

“We get calls from around the world,” he said, including England and Dubai.

“We have more than 40,000 products; we have more than 6,000 bridal gowns. We will be in the top five bridal stores in the country.”

The couple considered moving out of the Alton-Godfrey area, unable to find a site that fit their business needs after looking at commercial properties for three years.

Erin Frew said she talked with George Carter, Alton supervisor of building and zoning, about their search.

“We told George that we would end up leaving the area unless the city has something,” she said.

Phil Roggio, Alton director of development and housing, called them the next day, she said.

The team then began working together, both sides wanting to save the building and put it to good use.

“Carole Frew’s was on Homer Adams Parkway for 30-plus years, and we are sad to see business leave Godfrey, but when John started bestbridalprices.com, we grew tremendously,” she said. “We have neglected the local consumers, the retail, local store.”

The couple paid $150,000 for the buildings.

The city used money for the partial Sears demolition from the Riverfront Tax Increment Financing District fund. A grant from the Southwestern Illinois Development Authority covered engineering costs and environmental abatement in the buildings and outlying site.

The city matched the Frews’ $150,000 with TIF grants, the demolition and for construction of the north wall after the demolition.

The city bought the Sears property for $400,000 and the Snyder’s building for $150,000 in June 2008, with TIF money. The purchase included the parking lot area and land to the north by the tall limestone wall.