When I purchased our storefront here on Willard Street in Covington in 2015, I was certain of two things: 1) It was the final old building that I was going to bring back to life; 2) It would be the final resting place of Lost Art Press.
Until this month, I’ve never given more than 2 seconds of thought about what will happen to this company after John and I die. We’ll be dead, so we won’t care.
But this month, it looks like everything I wrote in the first sentence of this blog entry is incorrect. We have just purchased an old woodworking tool factory at 407 Madison Ave. in downtown Covington. This building housed the Anthe Machine Works, which made woodworking cutters from the time the company started in 1897 until it closed in 2019.
The building is a time capsule, with few modern improvements. Original floors, mouldings, elevator, windows, lineshaft and (yikes) toilets. It is a gorgeous space that is flooded with light. And it has no modern amenities.
The Anthe building has more than 5,000 square feet of space that is in need of preservation and restoration. And it is big enough that it now helps us see Lost Art Press as a multi-generational enterprise.
This building will allow us to bring our fulfillment operations here to Covington and have room to grow (if we want to). By June, all of our inventory will be on the floor of the Anthe building. And we will be able to mail out orders to customers with the same personal touch we bring to everything else we do.
We are thrilled by all this. But we are also a bit terrified.
In order to buy the building, we agreed to take on debt for the first time in our history. It’s not a huge loan. In fact, we will save money by transferring our inventory to Covington. But it is a debt.
More important is that we have taken on an obligation to this building, which is a historic structure with virtually no alterations. The storefront is all frame-and-panel woodwork surrounded by cast iron. The doors – all original. The trim around the windows? The original Greek key steel trim.
Though the building is in decent shape, it needs an almost endless amount of love. It needs a plan for its sensitive restoration. And it needs a lot of skilled help.
So this is the part of the blog entry where I do something I never wanted to do: show my ass.
The purchase of a huge building is something we’ve never done. And here is the other thing we’ve never done: ask for your help to restore it.
The first stage of restoring the Anthe building is to make the first floor a safe and comfortable working space. Plus maintain humidity levels to protect our books in inventory. That means we need to:
- Add HVAC to the first floor (with plans for systems on the other two floors).
- Pave the gravel drive to our loading dock to allow us to receive and send shipments.
- Provide basic amenities. Offer a working bathroom. Add locks on doors that work. Fix the original stairs. Remove some modern “improvements” to the front office.
- Get the freight elevator running.
To help pay for these initial projects, we are asking for your help. We have four tiers of support, and each tier offers something useful or beautiful in return. You can purchase any of these tiers in our store now. Links below and here.
Sparkle Pony Level – $5,000 (six available)
* A special one-week stick chair class in February 2024 here in Covington. This will also be a food tour as all your meals and drinks will be included. Together we’ll each make a stick chair (you’ll get to pick the design) from some premium wood (not bog oak – I don’t have enough; think maple, white oak, walnut). We’ll have nice lunches brought in to the shop. And we’ll go out every night to one of our favorite places in Cincinnati or Covington. Oh, and there will be a Sunday bluegrass night the evening before. The exact date will be decided by the six students, so it is a little flexible.
* Signed copy of “The American Peasant” made out to you when it is released in December
* Invitation to our Opening Day Party in early 2024
Bespokus Level – $600 (100 available)
* One of 100 handmade spell panels, hand engraved, signed and painted by Chris and Megan (shipped immediately)
* Signed copy of “The American Peasant” made out to you when it is released in December
* Invitation to our Opening Day Party in early 2024
Fancy Lad/Lass Level – $350 (125 available)
* One of 125 specially engraved lump hammers featuring the building (shipped immediately)
* Signed copy of “The American Peasant” made out to you when it is released in December
* Invitation to our Opening Day Party in early 2024
Bean the Shop Cat Level – $100
* Signed copy of “The American Peasant” made out to you when it is released in December
* Invitation to our Opening Day Party in early 2024
If you can help, thank you. If you cannot, we totally understand. Simply being a customer of Lost Art Press helps support and sustain our work.
In the coming weeks I’ll write more about the building and our plans for the future of Lost Art Press – beyond this current generation. I can tell you one thing right now: We would sooner give it away than sell it to a venture capital firm.
So if you have children, start feeding them a steady diet of Roy Underhill and Charles Hayward. We might need them here in Covington.
— Christopher Schwarz
Neat building. Good luck!
What a wonderful adventure! Good luck to you!
How is the roof looking?
It’s been recently replaced. Thankfully!
Well done and good luck!
Wow, thats super cool and exciting. I am good friends with Susan and Mark Anthe, In the 90’s I used to have them make custom router bits and they would sharpen some for me as well. I have a few cool old blocks soaked in oil that were tool holders that a friend sent to me from their closing.
Can we get a photo of bean too at the bean level?
Yes. Give me a sec…
I added hm 🙂
What a cool building with history and lots of character. I knew you all would find a site that was unique and interesting. Bravo! It may be too early for you to have decided, but will you still be operating out of your Willard St. location, too? I mean, the Anthe building can’t be very far from Willard St., but it would certainly lengthen your commute. 🙂
Best of luck and have fun fixing up that beauty.
No way is Chris giving up the shop here! We’ll be operating out of both – at least for the near term.
100% approve of the closer proximity to Lil’s.
I speculate that getting the freight elevator up to OSHA level will cost more than the building.
The idea of a function line shaft in a small factory brings joy to my old heart. I first saw one of those in Greenfield Village, in the Wright Brothers bicycle shop. I hope that you can put the line shaft to interesting use. Oops, there goes OSHA again.
The elevator might be fine as is and be grandfather claused in. Best to have an elevator company inspect and make recommendations. While your at it also check the fire codes and occupancy level. If you have an open house and all the Fancy Lad/Lass donators show up you could have more than two hundred people there.
Hooray… OSHA has no jurisdiction if there are less than (I think) 7 employees and the machinery is not accessible to public. (A safety cage restricting bodily contact may be all that’s required if it is publicly accessible). I allowed risk management concerns stop me many times in my business only to find out, after legal counsel, I was way overestimating the real “risk.” I tend to make complicated obstacles where there are none and I don’t want anyone else to do that, too. 🙂
I sincerely hope the local authorities allow the freight elevator to run again. That has to be the coolest elevator left in the US. But I worry. The old electric freight elevator in our ca. 1950’s building wasn’t worth keeping inspected because costs got very high according to our landlord. But LAP is its own landlord so there’s room to hope. You’ll need a sympathetic elevator mechanic.
We have an elevator repair tech who is very into our elevator. We will do everything we can to get it certified. Even if we don’t get it certified, we won’t remove it.
We’re working with Platte Architects on a total remodel of a similar size building by Findlay Market. Kurt and team have been great to work with. Just in case you were looking. Congrats! Can’t wait to watch it take shape!
Congratulations! Terrific (and terrifying).
Just to note that Anthe made machines as well as cutters, though they discontinued this aspect of their business earlier. Their spindle carving machines were the top of the line, I think, I owned one. A little bit more on the company is here:http://www.vintagemachinery.org/mfgindex/detail.aspx?id=2029&tab=0. I’ve driven though Covington two April’s in a row, including just two weeks ago, on our way from Memphis back to Vermont (and, long ago, had an aged aunt residing in your city). I both times thought I ought to drop in and say ‘hello’ as I enjoy your internet presence, but assumed you would be too busy for that, so passed on by.
Good luck in your new space.
You are welcome to stop by – just knock if we’re not in the front room!
Yowser, that’s exciting.
Wow, nice building! Congratulations!
Congratulations, that’s a perfect building for LAP. I wish I was a Sparkle Pony, but the Lump Hammer will have to do.
If we’re the folks in the raising small people life stage and would like to contribute at the “Marginally Above Apprentice Wages” level is there any way to do so?
Lol. That is where I am at in life. Given the state of CA schools, I send my kid to a private school. Does she appreciate it? Of course not, she’s a kid.
Thank you – we’ll set something up and let everyone know soon!
Oh, now I don’t have an excuse not to get that lump hammer, hoping your local officials allow the freight elevator without turning it into rocket surgery. Best to you all!
Done. Least I can do is support this given all you freely give to us; and it is a lot. Please don’t tell my wife. She thinks I have a woodworking problem.
Firstly, thanks for remaining in Kenton County.
Note: We live in a Sears Kit Home at an old fishing club in South Kenton County, KY.
The components of our house were manufactured at the Sears factory in Norwood, OH.
The Anthe folks made the woodcutting tools for that Sears factory.
But wait, there’s more…
The Anthe family were founders of our club and had a weekend cabin here (destroyed by fire).
Best of luck in this venture and we will invoke the spirits of the Anthe family in your favor.
“So if you have children, start feeding them a steady diet of Roy Underhill and Charles Hayward”
Literally the first screen time my son ever had at approximately 4 months was snuggled up with me as I went through my newly-purchased DVD box set of the Woodwrights Shop… I’m building him a slightly miniaturized Dutch Tool Chest for his 5th birthday next month. The kid can hammer nails better than a lot of adults I know! Like the time he hammered a nail into my car tire sidewall…. oh well, we take the good with the bad!
My grandson (now 5) and I have spent countless hours watching woodworking videos on YouTube over the last year or so. When he comes to spend the summer with me we’ll be ploughing through all 37 seasons of The Woodwright Shop as well as generating some sawdust and shavings.
My son’s birthday wishes when he turned 4: tools. He enjoys it! (now age 7)
My daughter (5) is better at sawing, though.
Forgot to add: since they don’t understand English they cannot watch TWWS – yet.
My grandkids are being raised in Spain but are, fortunately for me, bilingual.
Restore the windows and polish up that old wavy glass, say no to replacements
Don’t worry – we love the original everything about the place!
Windows were already repaired and they all function. We have storms on the outsize and ZERO plans to do anything but enjoy them.
Wow, beautiful building. Congratulations! So full of period details. I love the egg-and-dart crown, looks like they put it in the upper rooms as well. The 1890’s double-hung windows are great with the OG lugs on the lower interior sashes as well as the uppers sash. Amazing that the original door hardware has survived. Is that an old sheet iron cistern above one of the first floor bathrooms? Looks like you just need to add an “L” and a “P” to the keystone on the front facade.
Not sure…we need to get a ladder and get a closer look.
That’s awesome, congratulations!
A fitting future for the building and Lost Art Press. I’m thrilled for what’s to come! How exciting.
Congratulations! Very cool building!!!
Is this instead of or in addition to your current location?
In addition to
Extremely exciting. Congratulations.
As has been mentioned what about options for those who can afford less but still want to help out? Could there be a “get a sticker for $10” level or “$20 level to enter to win a 1:4 dovetail gauge” Hell, what about a simple Go Fund Me thing so that we can donate what we can?
We’re working on a new “supportive sticker set.” More info to come!
That’s a great old building. Secure the roof first and then everything else. I’m sure you’ll do well by the old girl. Nice natural light sure makes the interior pleasant. It’ll be a joy to work there and you’re keeping a historic building from being left to deteriorate and end up being lost.
The roof is new (last three years). And all the original sash windows have been repaired.
Other than that, it is unchanged.
That’s awesome. New roof, windows fixed, two major things you won’t have to fuss with. Take lots of pictures when you start on the storefront part. It looks like it wasn’t messed with much and lots may well be original – big plus. I know you won’t do anything that would be disruptive to that unless necessary. I had a commercial space at one time but wasn’t anything but cement block building and one wall of windows and doors built probably in the 70s. I did look at a place in Watseka, IL that had a nice old storefront, living quarters above and a great basement for storage and small one story manual elevator (from the basement to the first floor), but couldn’t get financing.
If you can use volunteers for anything from initial cleanup to whatever down the road, you’ve got my email. I’d love to be involved.
Thank you! (Be careful what you offer!)
If you can use volunteers for anything from initial cleanup to whatever down the road, you’ve got my email. I’d love to be involved.
Not sure my comment made it so maybe this a repeat. If you can use volunteers for cleanup or anything else please let me know. I’d love to be involved. Congrats!
Congratulations and godspeed! Can’t wait to follow along!
I’m also interested in donating a lesser amount, but I don’t require any swag in return 😂
You know that I am ALWAYS down for contributions of muscle and sweat. Hit me up.
Woo hoo. Demolition Man!
Hi there, great to hear you have found a premises for the journey forward, the building looks great, as you say it will need a lot of work, I have an appreciation of old buildings, machinery etc, unfortunately I am in the UK so distance precludes me from assisting, I do however purchase your books and tools from Classic Hand Tools in Suffolk England, all the best in the new journey that awaits, and yes, keep those vulture capitalists away.
Me too. Will you be adding international shipping to the Bean Level at least? Or could you ship signed copies to Classic Hand Tools for a higher donation price?
Thank you for the idea – I’ll see if that’s possible.
Congratulations. Given what you did with Willard and how nice that turned out I can’t wait to see what you do with this building. (Bonus: no glitter to contend with this time.)
Love the new building. The character will fit in perfectly with Lost Art Press. Perhaps you could offer weekend guided tours of the building for the low cost contribution to the cause.
Looks like an awesome old space to work in. I have to ask though is your building settled on the left side or is the building to the right the one leaning away? Looking forward to following the renovations here.
Ours has settled to the left. This happened a long time ago, probably when the water table changed in the city. Lots of buildings in our neighborhood list a little. Judging from the repairs done to that wall, it was a LONG time ago.
I wish I had hoards of money to help. I’ll contribute what I can though. I would love to help carry on LAP’s legacy in some fashion one day!
Congrats on the purchase. You may have already done this or have already looked into it, but contact the Kentucky Heritage Council regarding their “Rehabilitation Tax Credits” and/or any other assistance they can give ( https://heritage.ky.gov/historic-buildings/rehab-tax-credits/Pages/overview.aspx ). Unfortunately there is an initial deadline: “Projects seeking 2023 Allocations must be provided in person by Friday, April 28th or mailed with a postmark date by no later than Saturday, April 29th.” Might be worth a shot if you have nothing better to do over the next few days!
I’ll just add to the chorus of congratulations. Y’all have really built something here, and it’s great to see you continue to build. I see that the sparkly ponies were bought up immediately: testament to the good will you’ve created.
I suggest you add a Canadian / International level with digital delivery since shipping to us is an issue? Plus digital my wife doesn’t see any boxes arriving. I keep asking Lee Valley to use plain wrapping so I can claim it is a work package.
Building looks great and I will definitely support
Out of curiosity, are the two buildings within walking distance of each other (Say, within 15-20 minute walk)?
It’s less than a mile. I walk by it every day.
Lucy and I were married across the street.
Yep– about a half-mile apart.
Very exciting! Congratulations!
Congratulations!
This sounds like the kind of project I’d like to support.
just a thought, include the line shaft in a new logo. who doesn’t love a good line shaft with the belts and wheels?
How wonderful! I wish I could help, I wish I could visit! Maybe one day :^)
Very exciting!
There’s hope for the next generation—my daughter, age 10, was lying on the floor in my office yesterday, and pulled out the bottom drawer of my (mass produced, company provided desk) and immediately exclaimed “Daddy! These dovetails have the grain going in the wrong direction!”
Must be doing something right …
Beautiful building! So happy for y’all! Have you considered applying for historic tax credits? This feels like an ideal specimen.
We have experts who have been doing the necessary research for weeks now. It is a process. There are state and federal funds available. I’m not a fan of taking grants, but I also know we have a LOT of work to do.
Exciting News! Do you plan to leave the Anthe Machine Works logo on the glass and add a Lost Art Press logo? I think that would be a great nod to the building’s history, kind of a twist on “The Little House” by Virginia Lee Burton.
I want to. But the letters are modern vinyl and are already peeling, so they might not be long for this world. If they do come off, we will replace them with new ones. We plan to keep the Anthe stuff intact.
Love these old buildings, unfortunately very few like that exist in my area (Atlanta, GA).. At least nothing that hasn’t been torn down or fully restored and renovated into drivel. What is the width of the building, really curious. Guessing 22-24ft wide.
Wish I could be a Sparkle Pony, but – Fancy Lad Level achieved!
This could get complicated but any consideration of an organized work party of skilled labor? I’m a journeyman electrician who could be persuaded to volunteer time.
Thanks Kevin. If we find a situation where we could use help, we will organize something. We have a general contractor who helped renovate our Willard Street building and he seems to work miracles at times.
We do appreciate people’s offers to help and are seriously considering how to harness them.
“So this is the part of the blog entry where I do something I never wanted to do: show my ass.”
So this is what your ass looks like?
Who assed you?
Congratulations! It’s a great looking building and I love the fact it was machine tool company making woodworking cutters. Kind of glad the attempts to lease a building fell through and you’ve bought this property. I’m positive you guys will be even more successful with your new warehouse close by to HQ.
Found this neat short video about the Anthe Machine Works company and some materials the owners dropped off for safekeeping.
Curator’s Chat: Anthe Machine Works – YouTube
This was posted a little over 3 years ago and as of a few minutes ago only 56 views; I bet this view counts quadruples by Sunday night.
Maybe one of the mods can make the link work. If you search Anthe Machine Works on YouTube this should pop up right away.
Just ordered my fancy lad lump hammer, thank you, now git ‘er done!
Not going to tell the wife about this as I’m trying to lighten the tool load in my shop, not add to it. But if I have to, I’ll pitch it as the fundraiser that it is, and she’s good with helping good, and/or, lost causes. I know this is a winning cause!
Good luck!
Excellent!
Chris, haven’t you been doing this sort of restoration for a long time, bringing back the skill and lore of stick chairs, teaching others the craft, being renewed by wood? Now this building is joining you, to bring a collaboration, of more skill to the craft and maybe more leg room. Hmmm, I see a new workbench later on.
Good luck, looks like a worthy project.
What kind of locks need to be fixed?
Of all the Lost Art Press-y things you have done, this is the Lost Art Pressiest. Great building – good fortune to you!
You believed in me with my “Joiners Apprentice” project and sent me some killer tools to get started. I believe in this project too- count me in!
ROB! Where the hell have you been, sir?
Still here in PT around the corner and in regular contact with Hand-and-Eye Jim! I’ve stopped posting online but have continued the craft. I hope you’ll make it back out this way again, and I hope to make it your way at some point!
That’s great to hear. I think Megan will be teach out in PT next year. I’m sticking close to Covington (I have a building to fix).
Our door is always open for you here.
I’m going to raid the couch cushions and try for a Bespokus level! Good luck in your endeavors.
Time to try linseed oil paint on a larger scale? We have been restoring our listed 1950’s Swedish modernist rowhouse and have been large customers from Ottossons. If we would have used “modern” petro chemical (plastic based) paints we would have needed a special paint for our exterior facade (+wood oil primer), a special window paint, a special paint for metal details, a special paint for painting our cast iron radiators, a special paint for interior woodwork and trimming and on and on…
And since our house original colour scheme included three different colours on the facade and two different colours on the windows we would have to buy a gazillion different cans of expensive paint. With linseed oil paint the only thing to consider has been the colour, since you can use the same paint for everything that is not matte. Indoor, outdoor, wood, metal, plaster, everything from the same can. Allbäck and Ottossons also make matte paint that is worth checking out. They are also family owned small companies worth supporting. The only thing I would add is that when using Allbäck paint outdoors on wood I would add some zinc white (up to 20%) to the first layer.
Fantastic news and what a fantastic place!
I well remember the building from last year, as I kept walking back and forth around it one morning while trying to find an ATM that did not have a $300/hour withdrawal limit (finding out in the process that neither the one behind it nor the one across the street did); I also recall that I meant then to ask you what kind of “custom woodworking tools” (trust those words on a shop window to catch my eyes) they’d been doing (the place was clearly closed), but forgot to do so in the general ATM kerfuffle.
Again, fantastic and exciting news! All my very warmest wishes for the further endeavour and adventure you are now embarking upon to be a great success!
Cheers,
Mattias
Oh, by-the-by, that “A” above the top floor front window looks purty dang close to the LAP divider-and-letter-E logo … so clearly this was destined since 1897 to come about! 😇
I was going to purchase the book anyway and I really wanted a lump hammer.
I informed my wife that I was a “fancy lad”
The look and the laughter that followed was worth it.
I’m not far away and hope to visit soon.
Wow, what a huge move! Best of luck; I can’t wait to read about all of this. I’m sure the LAP team will knock this out of the park.
Having grown up in Louisville and Ludlow it does my heart good to see what possibilities you bring to the Madison Ave. building. Bravo to the entire LAP team!
Half-heartedly resisting the urge to be a ‘Sparkle Pony’… very weak… retirement beckons.
Looks like I missed the chance to be a Sparkle Pony. I guess you’ve got to be quick to play in the paddock.
This Lad, Fancy or otherwise, is in. My experience building the ATC at Willard changed my woodworking and my perspective so much for the better. One of the hardest and best experiences of my life. I look forward to seeing what will do with the new space. Heck I may even be able to make the trip for the party! Best of Luck!
Congrats!
We’re in the process of restoring a 1870 solid masonry building – a few things we’ve learned:
A structural engineer that knows traditional construction techniques and old buildings is invaluable. We had several “serious problems” flagged by an inexperienced one, only to be told that it’s been that way for over 100 years and was a non-issue.
Ditto for a mason. Most masons these days slap Type N or S mortar on everything and call it a day. It will destroy the building and cost a small fortune to fix (ask me how I know). Mortar has to be softer than brick, and old bricks are soft. If you see a mason using a modern mortar with a high percentage of cement, tell them to get lost.
Discover the marvels of lime – it’s everywhere in old buildings (mortars and plasters), and its an amazing building material that is not used these days (because it’s slow and therefore expensive). The best parts of our building have the original mortar and plaster. Everywhere else is getting converted back.
Maybe Lost Arts will branch out to traditional masonry and plastering as well? (One can dream… the skills and knowledge are dying out.)
I doubt we’ll branch out…but I do have a mason who does historic restoration, and his team uses traditional lime mortar where appropriate. I’m hopeful they’ll be starting on my house, using Limeworks mortar, any day now! Then I’ll bring them over here 🙂
We looked at using Limeworks mortar – it’s actually a bit different than what was historically used in the US, but is a good product. It is expensive though – in our area it is roughly 6x the cost of alternatives. Folks we’re working with are skeptical it is that much better than other options, but I guess time will tell (hopefully long after we’re gone in either case)!
As to your last paragraph, I called Roy Underhill “Uncle Roy” for so long that my youngest thought he was actually my uncle until about the age of ten.
You are nuts, you fellows! But, on the other hand, isn’t that what life is about? Get out on a limb like a daredevil squirrel and jump off to the closest tree, right? I can’t do much more than run (virtually) off to the shop and buy more books to support you, and wish you good luck on your adventure.
I am a fancy lad 4 life! Glad to support the cause.
I thought for a moment that this was going to be the next project of This Old House, and that you guys would be doing all the wood working alongside of Norm.
Good luck on the new adventure!
Congratulations! And thanks for the easy options to send some extra $ your way.
Lamenting I fell behind on email notifications for the blog, and I missed out on a chance to be a sparkle pony LOL I think special hats should be made 🙂
I assume the “notify me” comes if a third class gets added or someone drops out?
Yup. We are considering one.
Please???
And if there’s a third one, can I have a sparkle pony hat? 🙂
(or maybe workshop apron? 🙂
Yes.
My fancy lad lump hammer arrived yesterday.
I’ve been using a dead blow hammer and a 2 lb engineer hammer for mild persuasion.
This thing is just, better
And it looks awesome as well
Thanks for your support! It means a lot!
Would free labor be useful? I am happy to volunteer semi-regularly over the summer.