It took two years and six months, but we have finally paid off the $267,000 loan we took out to purchase the Anthe Building – the Lost Art Press headquarters and fulfillment center.
This post is not intended as a gloat. Instead, it is an acknowledgment that for the last 30 months we have been living with a debt. And we have fought like crazy to get out from under it. And now that we have, we think that Lost Art Press is now 20 percent more unkillable.
This post is also a “thank you” to the hundreds of readers who helped pay for the $500,000 in repairs and improvements that were necessary to get the building functioning as an office, warehouse and storefront.
The repairs continue. After a massive flood this summer, we lost 3,000 books in the cellar to water damage. We are in the middle of making our building flood-resistant. And we have moved almost all our inventory out of the basement until we can direct more water away from the building.
Next up: We need to tuckpoint the masonry in the entire building. And we need to repair the original cornice that fronts Madison Avenue.
And then? More work to the storefront.
I am in love with our storefront, which is virtually unchanged since it was built in 1890. All the original woodwork and metal trim are intact. Even the original door hardware.
It’s in rough shape, but my urge is to leave it alone. I’ve been walking past this building for almost 20 years, and I appreciate its decay aesthetics.
But I know that’s probably not the right approach. So I’ve been working on a compromise (this debate is all in my head, by the way). I want to remove the loose paint on the woodwork and repaint everything with linseed oil paint (which is what they used originally). The metal trim has been painted to death. You can’t even see the Greek meander pattern in places. I think we will strip that paint on that metal trim and then repaint it with linseed oil paint as well.
There also is the cast iron part of the storefront. There are some losses due to rust. I need to think about this some more and talk to other store owners who have restored their cast iron storefronts.
There are a million other details, but I’ll stop boring you now.
Just know that Lost Art Press is again debt-free and ready to flush some cash down a toilet on our next weird book project.
— Christopher Schwarz
Congratulations!
Hi, if you tuckpoint the bricks of your building, do it with hot lime mortar, is the rigth choice for preserve your building dry and sound. And congratulations for all your efforts!!!
This is so great! It is hard to imagine the people happy for you are not greater than those who think it is a gloat. We want you to continue, and to make more kind of silly financial decisions like posters and free books.
Oil based paints on metal work? My late Father would agree with that – he was an ‘old school’ painter and in a pinch he could make his own paint from scratch, but only really bothered to make his own shellac for French Polishing (I still have the feed sack of flakes and his big demijohn to store the mix). He thought that the ‘new’ water based paints made metal rust, even indoors (some of the early water based house paints were really dodgy)
Fantastic news. Congratulations.
Well the cost of the building vs the cost of repairs/updating is an “interesting” ratio, and certainly explains the comment made more than once that most of your personal income comes from other than LAP… Amazing job to manage a more than 3/4 million dollar outlay and support 6-8 people for 2.5 years! Congratulations! Time to get serious about translating Felibien, Hulot, or the older French guy into green woodworking whose name I don’t recall at the moment? 😉 😉
Out of debt? I look forward to supporting the next poster. Maybe a poster of peasant smalls with exploded view and a good tagline. “Smalls town charm!”
Still look at my ATC poster every day and love it. I know they have historically been business folly, but they bring me so much joy. Thanks for sometimes taking the road less profitable.
Hoping enough people get past the Yellow Pine love fest post to see such a momentous announcement as this!?! The example y’all set for how to run a first class organization, setting the bar for others on how to go about building a strong business. It makes it easier to justify buying second and sometimes third editions of books, not just getting an updated and incredible product, but supporting the work that y’all do. This is thrilling news, truly!
An excellent accomplishment! Maybe frees you up to do a video on chair repair? I’ve always been intrigued by the phrase “easily repairable by future generations” that you’ve used on selling your chairs. I would LOVE to buy a step-by-step video (or book!) on chair repair 🙂
Have you ever thought of building a giant stick chair on the roof?
https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/28914
What, no room for an antler chandelier? 🙂
Seriously, congratulations!
Congratulations on getting out from under that load of debt. It makes me happy. Thanks for keeping on doing what you do.
And cellars – just say no (if you can).
Congratulations! Happy to hear things are going well for you. Hope you have continued success in the future. Looking forward too your next book.
Congratulations!
Your way of doing business has always impressed the hell out of me. This is great news for great people.
Congratulations, You guys got that done quickly. There’s no better feeling than being debt-free, keep teaching that lesson to all.
Debt is a form of slavery, it limits the amount of choices you can make in your life. Our culture bombards us with messages that buying more stuff makes life better…when in reality money is just a tool to use to have more options in life.
“The Psychology of Money” by Morgan Housel is an excellent book on this subject.