Smart Move

If the prospect of moving sparks feelings of dread, consider the effort involved in relocating an architectural salvage shop with an inventory that includes hundreds of windows, doors, linear feet of trim, and truckloads of other vintage building materials.

This summer, Indiana Landmarks’ affiliate South Bend TradeWorks undertook the daunting task, moving to a larger retail space with room to conduct on-site heritage trades training workshops.

Formed in 2021, South Bend TradeWorks aims to provide training in traditional trades, giving homeowners the ability to undertake their own DIY projects and helping contractors acquire in-demand skills to offer clients with historic building repair needs. The group’s architecture salvage shop seeks to fill another void in the old-house community. Launched as a weekend pop-up shop in 2021, the salvage operation quickly outgrew its original space and upgraded a year later to a 1,500-square-foot commercial workshop.

When the salvage shop’s continued success prompted the organization to look for an even larger space, a local developer who is supportive of South Bend TradeWorks’ mission donated a 5,000-square-foot commercial space built in 1929 as a Ford car service and sales building, making the vision of operating the shop and conducting workshops in one location a reality.

Over one weekend in July, an army of volunteers helped inventory and transport the salvage shop’s inventory to its new location at 321 W. Wayne Street, finishing in time for the store to reopen Monday morning.

To advance our commitment to growing the network of qualified professionals with the specialized skills necessary to work on historic properties, Indiana Landmarks is relocating its northern regional office to the same building. The regional office has been without a permanent home since 2022, when we sold the c.1888 Kizer House to buyers who are restoring the house as a mixed-use facility.

The new location will serve as a base for our ongoing preservation work in the region and give us the opportunity to partner with South Bend TradeWorks in programming and trades training. We are currently renovating one of the historic building’s storefronts as office space and expect to move in next spring.

The South Bend TradeWorks Salvage Shop is located at the rear entrance of the building and open for business Mondays, 3-6 p.m., and Saturdays, 9:00 a.m. to noon, eastern time. The shop, like the items they sell to dedicated restorationists, may be a little hard to find but worth the search.

Learn more about South Bend TradeWorks on Facebook or visiting the group’s Facebook Marketplace Store.