By Lois Kimmelman LEED AP:
OG. Original Gangster. An accolade for the most knowledgeable guy or gal on the block, who’s been around the block once or twice. Mona Purdy, the OG behind the Chicago-based organization Share Your Soles, founded in 1999, was seeking a new headquarters for her expanding non-profit that finds a new home for thousands of hardly worn American sneakers and other shoes discarded for the latest fashion. She needed more room to collect, sort, stage, and ship shoes to Honduras, Haiti, Uganda, Cameroon and other countries whose populations can’t always afford footwear, or villages overwhelmed by war, an earthquake, or a tsunami.
After a long search, in 2017, Purdy moved her giant stash of shoes into a handsome but deteriorating 1880 brick building that she found in the famous Pullman neighborhood on Chicago’s south side. Since then, the whole complex of Pullman factory buildings, plus a hotel, church, and workers’ rowhouses, was designated a National Historic Park.
Over time, the two-story structure, which was built by George Pullman himself, has seen several uses, from a stable with 60 stalls for delivery truck horses and horse-and-carriage teams, to a firehouse (with horsedrawn fire engines), to a mortuary, barbershop, and gas station/auto body shop. The Illinois Bell Telephone Co. even occupied the building for several years. Because of the wear and tear and accumulated dirt of past site operations, especially with respect to the car repair shop with its grease, paint, and other “nasties,” the Illinois EPA was called in. They then investigated the site for hazardous waste and contaminants ranging from lead to benzene, and remediated where necessary.
Finally, when the remediation was complete and the environmental agency had given the site their blessing, Purdy’s crew dove into the makeover of the building, which involves not only a huge shoe warehouse but offices, new bathrooms, and an event space as well. Assisted by friends and neighbors who donate money, time, and expertise in everything from tuckpointing, to HVAC clean-outs, to hunting down historic credits, she doggedly leads the pack practically 24/7 in transforming the creaky old stable into a modern facility.
Wherever possible, Purdy and crew reuse original brick, wood beams, shingles, and other materials. “Junk” that in other similar projects might have been jettisoned is refurbished and given a new life. For example, hidden under a quilt in a back room, Share Your Soles volunteers discovered a grand old (albeit sorely out-of-tune) grand piano. Next summer, no doubt, in a space lit by a repurposed chandelier festooned with LED lights, someone will be tickling those ivories to entertain distinguished guests at a party celebrating the ten-year anniversary of the organization’s ownership of the old stable.
This adaptive re-reuse project is a work in progress whose goal is superambitious. But it is real, not a fairy tale. Stay tuned to see how Share Your Soles not only gives shoes to barefoot children around the world, but also turns a ragged Cinderella into a glass-slippered princess.
Read more about historic buildings getting a green makeover on Lois Kimmelman’s website/blog, Historecycle. She promotes restoration and renovation, not demolition.