Big Reveal

With its faded painted walls, exposed brick, warm-hued poplar flooring, luxurious furnishings, and eclectic art, a commercial building on Ferdinand’s Main Street looks like something transplanted from New York City or San Francisco. Ferdinand native Keith Fritz, furniture designer and owner of Fritz Fine Furniture, spent the better part of the past three years transforming the previously characterless late nineteenth century commercial building into a dramatic living and gathering space.

Built in 1886 for John Henry Beckmann, general merchant and dealer in clover seed and produce, the building was known as the New Farmers Store and served as a hub of local commerce. Subsequent owners maintained a mercantile presence, but they removed the building’s handsome pressed metal façade. Additional changes to the façade in the 1960s and later covered the original storefront and second floor windows, robbing the building of its architectural dignity.

“A huge wooden canopy and a blank upper story belie the rich history that the building played in the community,” explains Greg Sekula, Indiana Landmarks’ Southern Regional Director. “It took someone like Keith Fritz to recognize the potential and develop the vision.”