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!