Ten years ago when my husband bought our building, he painstakingly preserved its beautiful decay, working surgically to save layers of paint and tin. The building we live in was built as a corner grocery in the 1870s. In the 1920s, it became the Arctic Bar and Grill, a restaurant and speakeasy. In 1949, it was issued a certificate of occupancy for the manufacture of tents and tarpaulins. In 1968 it became a wood shop, which it remained until 2000, when it became a space for artists to live and work. In 2007 it became ours alone. In 2008 we had a baby.
Our house, though beautiful, is covered in lead paint. It's not safe for our most beloved baby son, and so we are covering the decay we have worked so hard to preserve with plain sheetrock. And we are slowly moving on.
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