13 North Main st.
The History
The 13 North Main Street restoration project is a reclamation of the historical architectural roots that helped build Gloversville. Once the longest standing continual operation hardware store in Gloversville, the Hardware store on Main Street stood the test of time when it first opened for business as the A.W Locklin Hardware which was recorded as a dealer in hardware cutlery, glassware, crockery, and house furnishing goods in 1852; Locklin was also the second fire chief of the newly formed fire department in May 1879. In February 1892, Locklin sold to J.P. Heacock & Co Hardware store, on February 25, 1895, it was purchased by E.L. Durkee. The hardware store changed a few more hands but kept the Durkee Hardware name, and in the late 1960s was purchased by Matthew Castiglione where it remained a family-run jewelry and gifts propriety until the early 1990s when a series of family illnesses caused the business to close and the building to remain vacant until January of 2020 when Micropolis Development Group purchased the property.
The Vision
This restoration project is currently underway, with the focus to bring modern sustainable technologies to the heart of the building. The property consists of a three-story main building, a two-story warehouse, and an adjoining atrium single-floor structure.
The restoration of the main building will include uncovering significant historical architecture by the removal of layered drywall and plaster to unveil the original brick walls, tin ceilings, and hand-hewn Red Spruce timber beams.
Just as the original building helped to literally furnish the hands that built Gloversville, the heart of 13 North Main Street is being designed to help rebuild Gloversville into a modern Micropolis for the new wave of community-minded generation. The first-floor storefront will be rejuvenated with a modern, upscale coffee shop creating a beating heart of the community for Gloversville with live music, a cafe eatery, and locally sourced coffee and artisanal drinks. The south side of the first floor will be used as a student art-scape mural project for local high school students to compete bi-annually at the chance to have their mural painted on the side of the building along with a $5,000k Scholarship. The south side of the second floor and third floors will have four large Velux 6'x8' windows installed for natural lighting. The roof of the main building will be replaced with a 25* pitch Velux Ridge light Sky roof of glazed glass and steel. Micropolis Development Group headquarters will take up residence on the 3rd-floor office space. The Community Foundation of the Adirondack Foothills, Purple Pixel, and two additional businesses have already committed to commercial office space on the second floor of the main building.
The rear warehouse will be converted to a coworking space designed in sleek industrial and wood styling that will feature open day spaces, rentable cubicles, or private offices all with free Wi-Fi, utilities, conference rooms, printing, and a host of other amenities. One of the key unique features of the Durkee Coworking Space will be the introduction of three hourly rentable creative spaces: podcasting, video, and photography studios, which will be designed with high caliber equipment and staging accessories to help bring the creative community to a vibrant centrally located workspace in Fulton county. One of the key architectural components of the warehouse structure - the second-story load doors, will be replaced with a stain-glass window depicting the historical settlement of the city. The west side of the second-floor warehouse will be transformed into a four-season sitting room with the addition of the Velux quarter-round greenhouse arch window and fireplace. The adjoining space between the two buildings will be completely transformed with the modernization of the accessibility of both buildings with an accessible ramp side entrance into a beautiful atrium. The main reception area will open to a three-story elevator system that will be installed to service the main building with a second-story stop of an industrial catwalk mezzanine for both the main building and warehouse. The roof of the new atrium will be a 45* Velux glass atrium roof supported with exposed Adirondack Red Cedar beams. The interior will support real plants and a living dwarf red maple tree.
The restoration project, which started in January of 2020 with the removal of 190 tons of garbage and debris, will take approximately 18 months to complete and cost just over 2 million dollars.
By renovating the building on Main Street in downtown Gloversville, Micropolis Development Group is expected to create at least 20 new jobs and millions of dollars in economic impact over the period of 3 years.
