I used to work for a puzzle company before I started out on my own. Our offices and factory were in a building that was built in the 1800's. Legend had it that they used to make wagon wheels in the factory. Later they built old fashion gas pumps. Sometime in the early 1900's, they made hat boxes and sold them to hat stores in Chicago. Hat boxes led to puzzles and since about the 1920's, the factory made puzzles.



Today that building is being turned into condos. It is really remarkable to think that people will be living in a building that only a few years ago was a noisy and dusty factory that employed almost 150 people. The building is brick and has huge wood beams inside. The floors are wood on the 2nd and 3rd floors. The buiding is well built and has a lot of history.



I am sure the units are really neat inside. As I understand it, each unit is 3 stories and highlight the architectural details of the building. Walls and beams are exposed. It has to be the most interesting interiors for a condo in Lafayette. I believe the first folks have already moved in.



I think having worked in the building, I could never live there. It would be too strange to know that where your kitchen is located used to be a die cutter or a lamination machine. Obviously, anyone moving in now only sees the high ceilings, wood floors, and exposed brick wall. But I would see the ghosts of over 100 years of manufacturing.



JP