He wanted a New York loft. He got an old building in downtown Wichita Falls
Living downtown in Wichita Falls has become fashionable in recent years. Several older buildings have been converted to apartments.
But living downtown is old hat for Mike Morford — and an apartment is just not his style.
Morford converted a 15,000-square-foot former business building on Scott Avenue into his home.
“I always wanted a New York loft. Instead, I ended up with an abandoned building in Wichita Falls,” Morford said.
Price tag for this piece of Wichita Falls history — besides elbow grease
He bought it in 2000 for $5 a square foot.
“I thought that was a pretty good deal,” he said.
He said restoring and converting the 106-year-old building for himself and wife, Penny, has been a work in progress.
“There’s always something to do," he said.
The history of a 'Human Being'
Morford, 75, grew up in Abilene, worked in meatpacking in his youth, did a stint in the Army and came to Wichita Falls in 1990 in sales for Schlumberger Oil Field Services. Later he formed a construction company and followed that with a machining business.
With a widely varied background, the title on his business card is simply, “Human Being.”
Making the space work for downtown living
An admitted auction addict, Morford helped fill his abundant space when Delphi automotive sold off equipment from its former plant here.
“I probably put my hand up more than I should have,” he said. “I’ve collected all sorts of stuff and kind of continued to go to auctions and pick up more junk.”
Almost half of the bottom floor is a shop that would make any handyman envious. Here, Morford made custom nuts, bolts and screws until the demand grew too heavy.
Living quarters dovetail with workspaces throughout the building.
Morford has refinished the shelves that once contained stationery supplies and converted them into library-scale bookshelves. He rebuilt the tall ladder where generations of clerks fetched things for customers. The front area has hosted out-of-town guests for the Hotter ‘N Hell Hundred.
An industrial-grade freight elevator is an alternative to a long stairway, and an ancient Otis rope-and-counterbalance elevator still works.
Filled with history and lots of other stuff
The building was constructed in 1918 for Munger Automotive Co., which sold Chandler automobiles. Businessman G.T. Buchanan bought it and opened a stationery and printing business in October 1928. He painted the interior pale green because “it was soft on the eyes.”
Buchanan Stationery remained in the same family for more than 60 years, selling filing systems before the computer age and fountain pens before the advent of the ball point. It sold office furniture that ranged from cheap to elegant. Paper stock was available in all forms and custom printing jobs were done on a clanking Linotype machine.
Morford has kept a few mementoes of those years: handset headline type and advertising buttons that attached to rotary dial telephones.
A 15,000 square-foot building is a lot of space, but Morford has been successful in filling it.
“Hoarder is such a bad word! I’m trying to stay away from it, but it’s difficult considering my proclivities,” he said.
This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: He wanted a New York loft. He got an old building in Wichita Falls
