Mike Wolfe Restoration

“American Pickers” television star, Mike Wolfe envisioned this 1882 brick building in the North Gulch as a multi-use, retail and event space preserving the charm of “old Nashville.”

Several Nashville commercial contractors told Wolfe they were not interested in trying to restore the building. Most people thought the building should be torn down. Architect Nick Dryden asked Dowdle to look at the building and the preliminary drawings. We looked and said, “this will be a fun project, when can we start?”  

As lead contractor, Dowdle Construction brought Wolfe’s vision to reality by restoring the dilapidated building with a collapsed roof and no floors into a chic industrial space with exposed brick walls and steel beams that frame the building and provide structural support.

Built in 1898 by a Hungarian immigrant, the first floor of the building served as a grocery store while the family lived on the second floor. From 1912 to 1944 the Saigh family of Syria ran the grocery business and lived upstairs. For more fascinating history of the building follow the links and watch the video below:

Tennessean article – “Mike Wolfe of American Pickers puts money behind Nashville preservation”

Tennessean article – “Ambitious Mike Wolfe rehab project will host barbershop, tattoo parlor in North Nashville”

Antique Archaeology Blog – “Mike Wolfe breathes life into old property: Jo Johnston renovation”