THE ODDFELLOWS BUILDING on East Main Street in Midway in a recent
photograph. The building is an historically significant part of Woodford
County’s African-American history. It was built for the “colored”
Oddfellows chapter during the post-Reconstruction Jim Crow period in
Midway. There was a “whites only” chapter in the town at that time as
well. (Photo from the COA application).
THE LODGE SIGN for the Oddfellows building was precisely recreated by
owner Naser Alamdari who plans to place it in the same spot on the
building facade when the restoration is complete. (Photo from the COA
application).
The Versailles-Midway-Woodford County Architectural Review Board
approved the plans provided by owner Naser Alamdari for a certificate of
appropriateness (COA) for the restoration of the Odd Fellows building at
116 East Main Street in downtown Midway. The board only deals with the
exterior of buildings.
The approval is conditioned on the facade of the building (the side
facing Main Street) being completed in 18 months and the completion of
the sides and rear of the building nine months after that. If the work
is not finished, then the board expects to issue a zone violation and
refer it to code enforcement.
Mike Radke, with the Kentucky Division of Historic Properties, who is
assisting Alamdari, told the board that the next step is obtaining the
building permit to allow interior work to proceed.
The approval of this COA is the most recent step in a long and often
contentious process involving Alamdari’s planned restoration of the
building.
The board has been dealing with this property, according to member Debra
Shockley, since 2016 when the first COA was issued, and this is at least
the second COA issued to Alamdari for the property. In 2020, the
Versailles-Midway-Woodford County Planning Commission threatened to
demolish the property if “10 issues were not corrected by Oct. 31, 2020,
as identified by the building inspector.”
Since a heated meeting on June 6, Alamdari has involved the assistance
of Historic Properties and a representative of the division has appeared
with him at all of the board meetings since then. Historic Properties
has assisted Alamdari in preparing a new COA application and other
permit applications, including the preparation of required plans and the
exploration of other options. The company has also advocated for him at
board meetings and in meetings with the Department of Planning.
Radke presented the COA application at Tuesday’s meeting on behalf of
Alamdari. Radke said that Alamdari was requesting 24 months to complete
necessary interior work to stabilize the second floor of the building
before the facade could be worked on. Radke said this was because all of
the hand-work involved in restoring the facade would be at risk of
failing if the second floor was not stabilized, which it currently is
not. Radke explained that any shifting or movement of the second floor
could cause the facade to fail and doors and windows to be inoperable,
and “ruin the project”.
Members of the board engaged in a long discussion about the application
that focused primarily on the issue of using vinyl as the material for
the sides and rear (the front will be wood) and the timeline to complete
the exterior work.
All five of the members said they believed that upwards of four years to
complete the exterior work was too long, particularly given the history
of the project. Chair Mike Hall said, “I can accept the vinyl (on the
sides and rear), but I don’t like how (the applicant) purchased
materials before obtaining approval and now says he has to use (the
vinyl).” Shockly said, “This is a historically important building. We’ve
just got to get this moving for the citizens and businesses of Midway so
I’m willing to make an exception for vinyl.” Member J.D. Woods pointed
out that under the bylaws of the board, vinyl could not be used in this
type of restoration and it needed to be understood that this situation
was unique.
The historic downtown area of Midway is on the National Register of
Historic Places. The description of the Odd Fellows building in Midway’s
application for inclusion on the registry describes the building as
built “at the turn of the century, this two and a half story frame
building was built for the Midway Colored I.O.O.F. (Oddfellows) Chapter,
with their meeting hall on the second floor and a Negro restaurant
below.” The Chapter was organized in 1879 according to “The Bluegrass
Clipper.” In several on-line sources, the Oddfellow building is
described as the “only African-American commercial building in Midway.”
Following the meeting, Alamdari declined to comment until he and Radke
could discuss the conditional approval to determine if the project could
move forward. Hall said, “We have given Alamdari a path forward with a
reasonable timeline. (Given the history) nothing will get built without
these timelines.”