Tables in the taproom at Brewhalla are made from wood recovered during the renovation process.
From trains to beer The Northern Pacific Railway Company (NPRC) built the 11,700-square-foot building that houses Brewhalla in 1883. It was primarily a foundry and repair building for railcars and locomotives, and later served as a storage and warehouse facility. When Kevin Bartram of MBA Architects purchased the abandoned building, he had a vision in mind. “Kevin always knew he wanted to make this his home and live in the north end of the building,” said Da- rin Montplaisir, one of Drekker’s four co-founders. “He had envisioned a brewery in the other half of the building, so he approached us and we jumped on the opportunity.” With one Drekker location already established in downtown Fargo, a second location less than a mile away was a no-brainer. “We were run- ning out of space downtown,” Montplaisir said. “It was perfect timing. And we had always thought that building would make an awesome brewery. Everything about it is so unique, and we knew we wanted to move in.” Out with the old, in with the… old Keeping the natural, original elements was one of the key goals of MBAArchitects and the Drekker team when they started design in the summer of 2017. Brewhalla’s structure is built with masonry load- bearing walls and a timber wood-framed roof structure. Besides adding necessary structural reinforcements, most of the wood and brick in the building is original. “We were surprised by how much the engineers let us keep,” Montplaisir said. “It was important to us to keep the building as close to original as possible. We love that about it.” Part of the restoration process was finding new uses for old elements of the building. Some of the original nuts and bolts were used in install- ing the new wood pieces, and the taproom tables are made from extra wood from the building. Outside, a repurposed footing now serves as a bench beside the firepit. Even the skylights, which line the roof of the building, have an old purpose: as smoke shoots for the train exhaust. Old train tracks that were discovered below layers of concrete will be used in a future fixture in the taproom.
“People ask us, ‘how’d you get it to look like that?’ about a lot of things,” Montplaisir said. “And they can’t believe it when we tell them that’s the original.” Authenticity played a key role in restoration of Brewhalla. That’s why, when it came to the building’s doors, MBAArchitects knew who to call. A trio of showstopping entrances In its early days, trains entered the maintenance building through one of the three large doors along the east side of the building. The open- ings are now fitted with three custom-designed doors that each serve a different purpose. The middle door is a standard customer entrance door. The doors on either side of the patron entrance required a fully custom solution and were designed and installed by Midland Door Solutions. The West Fargo-based company specializes in custom hydraulic and bi-fold Each of the custom doors at the brewery measures 12 feet wide by 16 feet tall and weighs 2,300 pounds.
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february 2020
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