Old Firehouse Plaza in Prescott Arizona is not quite as old.. built in 1956, in use as a firehouse until 1991 (I think). It has retail as well as a restaurant.
On the point about urban-scale fire trucks, I wonder how much of that is a consequence of taller buildings. Of course you're not going to get a 20-story ladder truck, but it's certainly different to need a ladder for even a 5 or 6 story building than one for an old 3-story row house or 2-over-1 style city building from the 1800s I would imagine.
That's about 90% of the issue. Emergency preparedness starts by taking the worst case scenario-how do we respond to a fire in the tallest building-and planning from there.
The other 10% is the focusing of supervisors and administration into the most central-i.e. downtown-locations. More offices means more space, which means bigger buildings.
The Old Firestation in Fairfax has had a pretty interesting life. I've come across very old photos on various Northern Virginia Facebook groups. The Virginia Room at the Fairfax City Library next door is a great resource. The restaurant closed abruptly in 2023 because the owner passed away suddenly. He was Greek so they served an interesting mix of classic Greek dishes mixed with American. I haven't been to the new place. In the mid-2000s they were actually sued by Firehouse Subs because it used to be called the Firehouse. There's a Firehouse about two miles away. They had to change the name. Crazy. For a few years in the mid-90s it was a coffee house called Dharma. When I was in high school a lot of the hardcore and straightedge bands would play there because it was an all-ages place. It would get pretty wild in there. They still have the stage and sometimes host bands, karaoke and trivia nights.
Seems like it's a fine tradition all across the country to have restaurants in old firehouses. One of my favorites is Firehouse Brewing in Rapid City, South Dakota.
Old Firehouse Plaza in Prescott Arizona is not quite as old.. built in 1956, in use as a firehouse until 1991 (I think). It has retail as well as a restaurant.
This old firehouse on Boylston Street in Boston is now part of Boston Architectural College. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/941%E2%80%93955_Boylston_Street
Cool!
On the point about urban-scale fire trucks, I wonder how much of that is a consequence of taller buildings. Of course you're not going to get a 20-story ladder truck, but it's certainly different to need a ladder for even a 5 or 6 story building than one for an old 3-story row house or 2-over-1 style city building from the 1800s I would imagine.
That's about 90% of the issue. Emergency preparedness starts by taking the worst case scenario-how do we respond to a fire in the tallest building-and planning from there.
The other 10% is the focusing of supervisors and administration into the most central-i.e. downtown-locations. More offices means more space, which means bigger buildings.
The Old Firestation in Fairfax has had a pretty interesting life. I've come across very old photos on various Northern Virginia Facebook groups. The Virginia Room at the Fairfax City Library next door is a great resource. The restaurant closed abruptly in 2023 because the owner passed away suddenly. He was Greek so they served an interesting mix of classic Greek dishes mixed with American. I haven't been to the new place. In the mid-2000s they were actually sued by Firehouse Subs because it used to be called the Firehouse. There's a Firehouse about two miles away. They had to change the name. Crazy. For a few years in the mid-90s it was a coffee house called Dharma. When I was in high school a lot of the hardcore and straightedge bands would play there because it was an all-ages place. It would get pretty wild in there. They still have the stage and sometimes host bands, karaoke and trivia nights.
Neat, thank you for the comment!
Seems like it's a fine tradition all across the country to have restaurants in old firehouses. One of my favorites is Firehouse Brewing in Rapid City, South Dakota.
Cool! That one still *really* looks like a firehouse!
Yes! There’s seating in the engine bays and they open the garage doors in the summer.
Another one: Engine House No. 9, in Tacoma, Washington.
https://www.ehouse9.com/gallery (current day)
https://www.ehouse9.com/new-gallery (historical, contrary to the URL slug)