Handel’s offices are located in the Ludwig Building in downtown Laramie. The building was originally completed in 1925 by Henning Svenson, one of Laramie’s first photographers. His studio was on the main floor, the same location where my wife Anne Brande, Henning’s great grand-daughter, is running her photography studio today. The second floor was designed as office rental spaces. The target market appears to have been doctors, dentists, accountants, and attorneys, because those professions are indicated with the names we see on early building signs. The offices also reflected this in their layouts, in that all the offices contained inter-connecting doors which indicate the use of waiting rooms.
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Laura shows the original hallway before remodel.
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Upstairs after elimination of walls between hallway and our former conference room. |
That was the layout I inherited when I started Handel in this building in 1997, and until recently it served us well. However, a modern technology company, ca. 2011, has slightly different needs than an attorney of the 1920s. As such, this year we decided it was time for a remodel that would make our overall workspace more efficient. Under the expert leadership of Bob Moore, owner of Right Angle Rehab, and his team, the second floor has undergone significant changes these past few months.
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| Old stairway, not really that old. Built during our move downstairs in 2007. |
The newer, wider, and code-compliant stairs. |
We have taken down several walls of some of the small offices and opened up the whole middle area. We have also enlarged a small stairway that now accesses the main floor. Originally the second floor was only served by a staircase from the outside and was not connected to the main floor. When we expanded down to part of the main floor in 2007, we put in a narrow, steep stairway which only just met our needs (but probably not city code). The new stairway and open space which we expect to occupy this June will give us a much more open layout as well as private managerial offices remaining along the perimeter. We will also enjoy a new and improved kitchen/break room as well.
I want to thank all of the employees for their patience, both those who have been relocated to the main floor and basement during this time (I am currently in one of the former basement darkrooms) and even more, those who have remained on the second floor battling dust and noise. However, the bigger heroes in this project have been Bob and his crew from Right Angle Rehab who have taken every measure possible to assure that this project has had as little impact as possible, allowing all Handelites to continue their work as uninterrupted as possible. We are all excited to start inhabiting our remodeled office space in the near future and look forward to reaping the benefits of this far more efficient layout.
For more photos from our remodeling, check out our Flickr page.