The building we’re working on to house the 32M Center for Creative Work has been on the banks of the Ashuelot River for a long time. Andrew, an architectural history expert who came to see it during the first weeks I was here, suggested it’s been here since the 1850s. Or at least parts of it.
More recently, the ground floor had been an apartment for an elderly member of the family who owned it. The second and third floors left mostly untouched except as storage. Each of those second floor rooms containing some things abandoned with the building itself.
One of the simple tasks, then, is to clear them out and make room for new creative explorations. First empty, then sweep, then repair and make functional again. It’s going to be a slow process but I’m only one person doing a small amount. Others will take up the broom or chisel or paintbrush and together this will become a new place in an older shell.