RochesterSubway.com : From Eyesore to Opportunity: Rochester’s Cataract Brewhouse

From Eyesore to Opportunity: Rochester’s Cataract Brewhouse

April 4th, 2012

All the controversy over whether or not to demolish the 120 year-old brewhouse at 13 Cataract Street got us thinking. Those in favor of demolishing the building say it’s an eyesore and a haven for drug dealers; even prostitutes. So, just remove the building and our problems go away.

Right?

But if we demolished every eyesore in Rochester, would we have solved all the City’s problems? Or might we end up tossing the proverbial “baby” out with the bath water? Over the past two weeks we’ve reviewed at some local eyesores …or rather, opportunities, nearly lost. Those include the Flatiron Building, Station 55, Hoyt-Potter House, Lehigh Valley Railroad Station (Dinosaur Bar-B-Que), Parazin Building, Partners Building, and the Powers Building.

Tonight the Preservation Board and Planning Commission will hear public comments and decide whether or not 13 Cataract will join the ranks of the reborn, or go the way of Rochester’s Bragdon Station and others.

Cataract Brewing Company Building
13 Cataract Street

Adam C. Wagner, often referred to as A. C. Wagner, was the architect and designer of more than 50 American breweries during his lifetime. Most significantly for the Rochester community, in 1890 he designed this impressive brewhouse for the Standard Brewing Company. Eventually the building would be named after one of only five Rochester breweries to survive Prohibition—the now defunct Cataract Brewing Company.

At the time of this writing we know of only two other A.C. Wagner brewhouses still standing—Weisbrod & Hess Brewery in Philadelphia and Steigmaier Brewery in Wilkes-Barre, PA. The Cataract Brewhouse represents one of the last remaining pre-prohibition era brewing facilities in Rochester. Its future is now question as the current property owner plans to demolish it for additional parking.

Here’s the “eyesore”…

And here is the “opportunity” we are set to lose…

How You Can Help…

Speak out against the demolition of 13 Cataract Street.
Attend the public hearing tonight at 8pm and sign up to speak in favor of preserving 13 Cataract for future development and reuse.

Tags: adaptive reuse, Cataract Brewery, Cataract Brewing Company, Cataract Street, From Eyesore to Opportunity, High Falls, Rochester, Rochester NY

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 4th, 2012 at 8:07 am and is filed under Rochester History, Rochester Images, Urban Development. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “From Eyesore to Opportunity: Rochester’s Cataract Brewhouse”

Rick says:

April 4, 2012 at 8:51 am

Tear down historical building to build museum about said historical building.
Rick says:

April 5, 2012 at 10:16 am

The question is this; how unique is the Cataract building. Are there others like it or is it one of the kind? Is it rare or is it just another building we can turn it into parking spaces.

Personally I’ll be sad to see the Cataract building go. I’ll be really disappointed in the brewery for letting it go as I feel as though we’re going to wipe out a piece of history. For what, a few parking spaces.

There are not many buildings in/around downtown that are in need of reapir or fixing up anymore. We’ve either already fixed them up or we tore them down. I can think of the old ‘Free Academy’ building on S. Fitzhugh and perhaps that old bank next to the Ellwanger-Barry building on State Street near 4-corners. Sure there are a few others but for the most part it feels like we’re pretty good as far as saving buildings that need immediate help. This may be one of the last few that we can save from extinction and we’re just going to let it go to the rubble heap.

Cataract is a part of the Rochester skyline. It’s really a swank looking building and for it’s location probably the nicest and most ornamental building in it’s immediate area. It was designed by a well known architect and the building has a ton of history associated with it. With the old street the building adds to ambiance of the area. For years I’ve wondered why they just let that building sit there. IF we tear that building down, all of that will be lost. A huge mistake in my opinion.

Full disclosure: I don’t have millions to invest in a building to make it sound so my vote probably counts for nothing.