While we were renovating the Buick Building, I drove downtown almost every day. On the way, I kept passing four neglected cottages at Warren and Congress Streets. Built in the 1870s, they were nearly identical Gulf Coast cottages clustered on a single property. One had been gutted by fire. The others were boarded up and disappearing behind weeds and small trees.
I must have driven by them a hundred times thinking the same thing: what a shame. Eventually I stopped thinking about it and called the owner. I explained that I wanted to restore the houses rather than tear them down. That mattered to him and his father, and we made a deal. I bought all four for $20,000.
Once we started clearing the property, something happened I hadn't expected. Neighbors began coming over to help. One was Bennett, who lived nearby. He became a friend, watched the project at night, and eventually worked with us on several other downtown projects.
Historic architect Douglas Kearley helped us develop the restoration plan. The work wasn't easy, and economically it would have been extremely difficult without federal and Alabama historic rehabilitation tax credits. Those incentives allowed us to spend the money necessary to restore the cottages correctly rather than settle for a cheaper solution. The houses represent a rare surviving example of a once-common Gulf Coast development pattern — four similar cottages built together on one property. Three of the original four remain today.
But the project's greater impact happened outside the property lines. Other homeowners began improving their houses. Empty lots began filling in. Roughly ten new houses have since been built nearby. A place that once looked forgotten began feeling like a neighborhood again.
That project taught me something I've seen repeated many times since: hope is contagious. People don't always need a grand redevelopment plan. Sometimes they simply need to see somebody care enough to begin.
