The Rock Cafe, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, burned during the early morning of May 20, 2008. Its been a lot of work but Dawn and her crew from David Burke Historic Preservation had the cafe open again on May 29, 2009. When it reopened it looked like it did in 1939 but with new safety features and restrooms that met ADA standards.
To see what we started with, please take a look at the post-fire pictures.
David and the restoration of the Rock Cafe were featured on Channel 9 News. See the video at:
Owner of the cafe, Dawn Welch with Kaisa Barthuli, Acting Program Manager of the Rout 66 Corridor Preservation Program, National Park Service. Both are very happy with our restoration work.
Reopened one year and nine days after almost complete destruction. Opened May 29, 2009.
Channel 8 News, below, covered the restoration of the Rock Cafe
David's son, Andrew, assembles a vintage style ceiling fan. The restoration of the Rock Cafe has been a family affair. The owner of the cafe's children help out as does David's son. Preservation continues through the generations.
Vintage style lights and ceiling fans were installed.
A huge exhaust system was installed.
Ceiling and paneling are in! Cedar paneling was used, just like the original.
The new pent roof is up.
The new paneling replicates the original 1930s style.
Compare this to the photos where the roof is gone and the wall is partially collapsed. The pent roof is now rebuilt. It's coming along! The roof is now covered in a waterproof membrane, which replaces the layers of asphalt shingles. This is much better since the asphalt kept reigniting for hours after the cafe burned.
The roof was completely gone and the top of the left front wall was collapsed. Instead of layers of asphalt, that fell in and continued to burn for hours, we now have a membrane roof, as seen in the photo under the Rock Cafe sign. The pent roof is now covered in tin, as was the original roof.
We have put in foam insulation and firring strips. Cedar panelling, just like the building originally had, will now be installed.
Rock Cafe owner, Dawn Welch, up high on the scafflolding with a nail gun.
The following photo ran on the front page of the Lincoln County News on Jan.22, 2009.
It's starting to feel like a building again. David, Terry and Mark built 26 new, sturdy trusses to replace the destroyed ones. A boom truck lifted them while the men directed them to the right spots. With the trusses up and the plywood going on the trusses, it feels like it's all coming together. Half the town came by to take photos, many of the folks saying they didn't really believe the Rock would come back until they saw those trusses moving throught the air. The following photos show the trusses being built and being placed on top of the Rock Cafe.
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Storage building where new kitchen will be.
Storage building is built from cement blocks formed to look like stone. From a salvaged Sears kit house.
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Current project: restoration of 1936 Rock Cafe.
Here we have stabilized the walls after carefully washing soot and chunks of charred debris from the surface.
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Prepairing the wall for repointing.
Stone mason Mark has much experience in repointing stone and brick.The mortar was damaged making the facade unstable.
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My on-site shop is set up in the storage building.Terry is cutting plywood to cover doors and windows.
We'll be on-site from start to finish.
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We always hire locally when we can
We try to help local employment whenever we can. Two great teams are helping us, both local. Reamy Mechanical is doing the Heating, Air Conditioning and Refridgeration. That's Rocky Reamy on the ground. Call him at 918-968-0058. The two fellows you can barely see are helping from a nearby town on Rt. 66, Chandler. They come from A&A Electric Inc. to do the electrical work. If you're in the area, give owner Brad Russell a call for your electrical needs. 405-258-1965.
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Cleared out debris
We cleared out debris, rocks, trash, inappropriate landscaping and hundreds of invasive mint plants (which my wife now has invading our yard) so we can make the front look appropriate for the 1930s.
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The city of Stroud has been most helpful, doing everything they can to make the job go smoothly and the Rock Cafe open quickly. Preservation is a community effort.
