JAX EVOLVED: Paul Davis Restoration Gives Life to Old Chevrolet Parts Depot

It’s hard to think of a type of company better suited for an adaptive reuse project than one specializing in building restorations. It should come as no surprise, then, that the local operations of national restoration company Paul Davis Restoration are located within what used to be an automobile parts warehouse.

The company’s building at 2111 N. Liberty St. within historic Springfield was originally constructed in 1929 as the Chevrolet Parts Depot warehouse. The two-story building was utilized as a parts warehouse and office building for the Chevrolet Motor Company. It was located not far from the downtown Chevrolet dealership building at Main Street, which had just recently opened its doors at the time.

The building was designed by Detroit, MI-based architect Albert Kahn, who designed over a hundred buildings in his hometown of Detroit as well as several auto factory facilities across the country.

Chevy occupied the building for nearly three decades before relocating in the late 1950s. It was later occupied by Convention Press, Inc., a local printing and publishing company.

By the ‘80s, the building had begun changing hands between a series of owners, which it would do for the next few decades. It was sporadically utilized as warehouse space, but by the turn of the century it was vacant and, despite occasional maintenance being performed, deteriorating quickly.

In late 2011, the building was acquired by JSK Corp., a company associated with the local franchise operations of Paul Davis Restoration. The local Paul Davis group, led by the husband-and-wife team of Michael and Marguerite Mumford, then set out on a $1.6 million renovation project aimed at rehabilitating the aging structure and turning it into the company’s local headquarters building.

City permits from the renovation efforts show that Paul Davis Restoration handled a significant amount of the redevelopment themselves. Barber Klein Contractors served as the engineer of record for the project, helping to design a new roof and select appropriate window fixings.

The project was completed in 2012, and the following year it received a 2013 Preservation Award from Jacksonville Historic Preservation Commission.

The building has served as Paul Davis’s local home ever since, preserving one of Springfield’s many deteriorating historic warehouses.