Salvaging MacDonald

If you enjoy sorting through bits of oddments and detritus and haven’t paid the The ReStore in Ballard a visit, you ought to. It’s the dream shop of both garage sale scavengers and the environmentally friendly: they go into old buildings that are being torn down or remodeled and remove whatever is re-usable for resale in their store. Instead of landing in landfill, old fixtures, doors, windows and more provide the material and character for another generation of buildings. They even have a Recycled Art Program.

Why do we mention Ballard’s ReStore in the Wallyhood blog? James Taylor (no relation, we don’t think) explains:

I’m a Wallingford resident and I work at the ReStore down in Ballard. For the last week these two halves of my life have come together as we are currently salvaging McDonald Elementary.

The ReStore is removing everything, from the slate blackboards to the clocks in the classrooms.  I have worked on many schools in my time–including Hamilton–and my last time in McDonald was right when I moved here, and my then wife was starting at Bastyr (at that point leasing the school). That said, this building seems almost untouched from when it was built in 1913–altogether a true joy to work on even in the capacity of one who is effectively tearing things out.

I heard from a contractor that the neighbors were not happy with the project. I don’t know if that is due to the impact of the construction or more directly to the removal of what I consider near artifacts by myself and my co-workers.

I suppose a few things might come up from what you do with this tip–a dialogue as to why these materials wind up for sale, or what I hope is a good heads up to the folks who have a personal connection to the history and future of this edifice.  It’s hard not to make this sound commercial, I do work for a non-profit and you know how hard we try to stay on the hippy side of things..

Take a moment, folks, and imagine those giant, wall-length slate blackboard in your living room. Just the thought leaves us a bit glassy-eyed and drooly.

(Photo by Danielle Johnson)