It’s about 0 degrees but Nick Stageberg is content to stand outside examining the facade of the Furlow Apartment Building.
“There are just so many details,” he said.
Stageberg is co-owner of Black Swan Living Property Management which last month acquired the 1926 Furlow at 508 Fourth St. SW.
Arches emphasize the windows and bricks create textures and patterns. It’s so ornate that its exterior influenced aesthetic features in neighboring Hamilton Apartments built in 2010, which Black Swan also acquired.
When it was constructed in 1926, the Furlow was high-end living accommodations.
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Today, the interior of the Furlow needs work. A grand wooden staircase that once served tenants was replaced with a steel and concrete one. Each of the 22 units is in various states of repair.
Stageberg plans to renovate all the apartments and restore much of the historic character to the building.
He points to the hardwood floors and built-in cabinets in the kitchen. In one apartment, a tenant stripped the paint from the cabinet and refinished the wood underneath it.
Most of the apartments have the original kitchen fixtures, including an ice box. "Ice doors" for delivery line the hallways.
Overhead, the ceiling has at least two layers between what you see now and the original, Stageberg said.
"It’s always an archaeological expedition going through buildings like this,” he said.
