Painting brick buildings a popular trend, but not with preservationists

Painting a brick building is not a new trend. For years, it’s been a way to bring older buildings “back to life” and give a downtown streetscape a new look.

But the question of whether it is a good idea to paint over brick is one worth contemplating, and one that Preservation Partners of the Fox Valley asked in a recent newsletter.

The Partners were pretty straightforward about the topic, noting that paint does brighten and freshen a building, but if “it is built of brick or stone, leave it alone!”

Unlike wood, which is aided by paint in terms of keeping moisture out, masonry is a different story. Bricks don’t shrink or swell from moisture, but allows moisture in and out, the newsletter noted.

When you apply paint to brick, it seals moisture inside with no place to go. Over time, it deteriorates from the inside out, and is not visible until it begins to crumble, the Partners say.

In using the eyeball test when driving through the Tri-Cities, the buildings that have gone the route of painting over old brick do stand out. In my view, they were improvements to the buildings, but not all agree with changing the looks of a downtown in such dramatic fashion.

In Geneva, the former Erday’s men’s clothing store building got the full makeover six years ago with white paint for Edie Boutique in the front and other businesses in the back at State and Third streets.

Owners of the Tia Carmen restaurant who recently took over the Sergio’s Cantina site at 30 W. State St. removed vines from the front of the building and painted the brick white to showcase the restaurant name and color scheme.

The Halsa aromatherapy store on State Street also went with a white paint on brick at its corner. There are a few places on Third Street that have partial paint jobs on brick, while Geneva Bank and Trust on State Street has white paint on the brick structure that was once a gas station site.

These types of makeovers are not as prevalent in St. Charles or Batavia, with the Avenue Two barbershop having a darker paint on brick, and places like the Hunt House music studio and Fox Social tavern having top portions of their brick buildings painted.

Batavia has far more limestone structures on Wilson Street in downtown, so paint jobs aren’t as apparent. The empty Olmstead’s TV shop has painted brick, an indication of how long the practice has been around. And the top portion of the PUREi marketing building has painted brick.

Professional painters I spoke to confirm that painting brick is a popular trend and most paint companies have products to use on masonry. One in particular, Romabio, is an Italian company that provides paint and varnish that helps the brick breathe “better” when applied, painters have said.

Ultimately, it’s a money game. Fixing deteriorating masonry is expensive for building owners. That’s why area historic commissions remind developers and store owners about this potential problem and even try to establish clear guidelines or safeguards written into ordinances that plan commissions adhere to.

At this point, it’s a point to consider and research before making the investment.

There is no denying it makes many buildings look better, but the stances on whether you should do it are pretty clear.

It’s not a good idea in most cases, no matter what paint is used, preservationists say. But paint companies consistently offer usable products for building owners seeking a whole new look, the pro painters say.

‘Olde’ take on Mill Race property

With the Geneva City Council this week again denying the developer’s appeal to a historic commission’s ruling that it cannot demolish an 1840s blacksmith shop on the former Mill Race Inn property, it leaves us knowing this likely isn’t the last chapter.

The debate centers on Shodeen plans to develop that property and the company’s desire to remove the blacksmith shop. It has taken as many twists and turns as the land itself, which by the way does complicate matters on this project.

But it opens the door to dream about what could be.

Each time I walk or drive by this property, I envision an “Olde Geneva” historic settlement with shops, a restaurant and a row of townhouses nearby. It has always seemed like a logical extension of Island Park.

In hopes of saving the blacksmith shop from a wrecking ball, Alan Leahigh’s recent drawings and model to show what the 1840s blacksmith shop would have looked like, along with his pitch to make a rebuilt shop into a visitors’ center, made my thoughts surface again.

In my dreams, I see brick-paved walkways, with reconstructed monuments or visitors’ centers for the blacksmith shop, the old Geneva mills and other distinct historical sites. The restaurant could maybe be a “monument” of sorts with photos of some of the first restaurants in the village.

It would have to be a collaborative project between the historical society, history museum, city, park district and developer.

It could be a setting for weddings, parties, corporate events, park district or history museum events, and scheduled tours for visitors by the bus loads.

Given the numerous issues with the property, its significant contours and some potential for flooding, one might say this idea is way out in left field.

I understand that. Something like this is not likely to happen, though a place like Naper Settlement in Naperville provides a bit of a model.

But it’s still fun to envision our past on display and dream about having something no one else has.

Library data tells story

The numbers shouldn’t surprise anyone who drives past a local library and sees cars filling the parking lot.

Libraries are vital — and busy — places.

Geneva Public Library recently released some data to confirm this, saying 251,103 visitors enjoyed the library last year, an average of 849 people per day.

In addition, 48,407 people attended the 1,789 programs the library offered last year.

In the category of “making new friends,” the library reported it welcomed 1,933 new users.

A tropical fundraiser

Tropical drums, hand-rolled cigars, steel drums, games and prizes.

You don’t have to take a trip to enjoy all of that.

The Geneva Community Chest is hosting a “Havana Nights” celebration dinner from 6 to 11:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 6, at the Eagle Brook Country Club in Geneva.

Calling it “Paradise with a Purpose” the Latin-themed event is a major fundraiser for the organization, which helps fund various organizations in the community.

Tickets for individuals or tables of 10 or 12 are available at genevacommunitychest.kindful.com.

Making the grades

Complaints about our health care system have been around as long as there have been health care systems.

Regardless, our health care workers do the best work possible in tough conditions, that being facing waves of Baby Boomers coming in to get various parts of themselves fixed.

That steady stream, in addition to dealing with whatever flu virus is overwhelming us, can make it difficult to find an opening to see your doctor. So, that fuels frustration.

But hospitals can still emphasize patient communication and safety, and it is always good to know your hospital embraces those traits.

It was nice to see the two hospitals our family is most likely to use in the Northwestern network — Delnor Hospital in Geneva and Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield — recently received straight A’s in a 2025 Hospital Safety Grades report.

Leapfrog Group provides these studies and bases its analysis on how hospitals protect their patients from “largely preventable problems.”

Those problems would be things like medical errors, accidents, injuries and infections. These are considerable woes because they can harm one in four hospital patients, causing as many as 250,000 deaths each year, Leapfrog points out.

The Safety Grade reports have been a cornerstone of patient and hospital network awareness in making safety a priority, The Leapfrog Group states.

For 25 years, The Leapfrog Group has established itself as “a voice for patient safety, quality and transparency.” It says it has done so by collecting, analyzing and publishing hospital safety data to push the health care industry forward in its safety measures and commitments.

About those chips

We’ve all been doing something for 10 years now, and likely wouldn’t believe it’s been that long.

Because I was writing about this technology for the payments team at American Banker at the time, I know it’s been 10 years since our credit cards have had what is called an EMV (EuroPay, Mastercard and Visa) chip embedded in them.

The chip to hold critical card information was established to replace the easily-hacked stripe on a card that we would swipe through a reader at the payment terminal, gas pump or ATM. Thus, it has done much to stop fraudulent transactions and fake cards.

The card networks initially pushed it as a “liability shift,” telling merchants and banks that the party not embracing the chip would take on the brunt of fraud costs.

What we have seen develop in the last decade, though, is maybe even more important. The EMV chip technology paved the way for contactless payments at a terminal, meaning the card, or your phone with a mobile wallet, never has to touch a terminal or leave your hands.

That’s been a plus, too, in keeping our transactions safe and our payment credentials hidden from wandering eyes.

dheun@sbcglobal.net