Aaron Gogolin and his partners were all too familiar with the stats: The City of Cleveland had 15,000 houses slated for demolition, and an aggressive schedule meant that each week another 40 homes would meet the business end of a wrecking ball.
"We knew these old houses would be coming down and that much of the building material would end up in landfill," says Gogolin, a former house framer and cabinet shop owner. "We wanted to figure out what we could do with it all."
Along with deconstruction expert Chris Kious and custom furniture maker P.J. Doran, Gogolin formed A Piece of Cleveland in spring of 2008. Using reclaimed building materials, the company fabricates fine wooden chairs, tables, cutting boards and wine racks. Piece of Cleveland also tackles large custom jobs for local green-minded businesses.
Working quickly, deconstruction crews remove 2-by-4s, 2-by-6s, floorboards and interior doors, much of it comprised of sturdy old-growth heart pine. The wood is processed and repurposed at the company's 10,000-square-foot Cleveland warehouse.
Each object is accompanied by a "rebirth certificate," a sort of biographical narrative about the source of the material. Purchase a coat rack constructed of wood rescued from the Stanard School, for example, and you'll learn that the 1885-built school was the likely site of the first four-square game. It is also where Gogolin's great-grandmother attended elementary school.
Piece of Cleveland currently employs six people, but Gogolin says that number will likely grow as new deconstruction crews are added and the company expands its retail line. The company is fortunate to be able to draw on a large number of enthusiastic volunteers as well.
Source: Aaron Gogolin, A Piece of Cleveland
Writer: Douglas Trattner