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Option House revitalization ongoing
By ADAM VOSLER
Era Reporter
a.vosler@bradfordera.com
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| Era photo by Francie Long |
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Option House owner Sam Sylvester and his assistants have been a fixture outside the historic building lately, often with a ladder and tools.
Sylvester took time Oct. 16 to explain what’s being done to restore the 100-plus-year-old building’s facade in recent weeks.
“There was a lot of stuff that was about to fall down to the streets,” Sylvester said.
Since the Option House was bought by Sylvester in mid-April, he has poured plenty of money into improvements, and the masonry in the front is no exception. A facade grant Sylvester received will cover up to 50 percent of the money he puts into the building’s front, with a $5,000 limit.
The Option House already houses 20 upstairs apartments, but Sylvester is now working toward another goal: opening a quality restaurant on the first and second floors. He hopes to accomplish this in the next few months.
One doesn’t have to look far to see improvements: All windows are new, and they sport new trim. Below the window, local painter Steve Cavallaro removed all paint to expose the original limestone on the building’s bottom-front area.
The familiar Option House sign in the front window, a trademark of the business, has been cleaned up.
“Once we got about 50 years of nicotine off it, it looks good,” Sylvester said.
In that same window, Sylvester pointed out his new, long-awaited liquor license notice, a process that has delayed somewhat the restaurant’s opening.
“I got this today — big achievement!” he said, laughing. “So the process has officially begun.”
It could be two months before the liquor license is cleared, according to Sylvester.
The Historical Architectural Review Board, of which Sylvester is a member, also has to inspect the makeover to ensure the Option House is not changing its historical makeup too much. Sylvester, of course, is required to sit out the meetings while the Option House is discussed.
For example, some of the balusters, which are closely spaced architectural supports, were falling apart, so an artisan designed new ones. Sylvester will, however, place pots inside the old balusters to hold plants.
Furthermore, all the capstones above the front door outside were taken off and repointed. T.O. Fitch restored the balcony, according to the owner.
The front’s wooden double doors have been replicated to resemble their counterparts from when the building first opened its doors in 1902. The smaller, outside door that leads upstairs has also been rebuilt.
The building’s face is not all that has changed in the last few months.
“This is going to be a parlor area with plants” for a reception-type room, Sylvester said just inside the front door.
There are new marble stairs that greet those who use the smaller door to head to higher floors. Two-stage painting and golden stencil work were done on the stairwell walls by Nancy Tramoski. Also on the stairwell, stylistic fixtures Sylvester called capitols were refurbished by John Blackmore.
Sylvester’s newly carpeted, second-floor office boasts oak furniture provided to the restoration effort by Rich DeLong.
The second-floor hallway, known affectionately to the Option House team as Peacock Alley, features painting by Pam Anderson of Bradford.
Window treatments in the Peacock Parlors (the large banquet room Sylvester envisions as multiple segments) were done by Ann Davis. Dave Monago did the carpeting in the Peacock Parlors, where chandeliers also have a peacock shade.
To compliment the design, Sylvester’s crew got creative: 150 chairs, bought from an eBay seller, came in Sunday.
“We’re sending a guy up to Massachusetts to pick them up,” Sylvester explained last week.
He’s still looking into furniture for the downstairs portion of the restaurant.
As one would expect with a dual project of rehabilitating an old building and starting a business, there is still much work to be done.
Sylvester still needs to hire wait staff, bartenders, cooks and more.
Appliances are still needed for the kitchen, which still resembles a construction zone. Two men were working the afternoon of Oct. 16 on an old cooler, which still contained several cases of beer and bottles of liquor from when the bar area was last open several months ago under old ownership.
So, despite all the accomplishments in recent months, Sylvester was not ready last week to commit to an opening date.
“No one’s more anxious to open it than me,” he said.
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