The Texas Historical Society says we cannot have the original brick exposed because in the 1900’s when the building was built, the original purpose of the brick was structural, not cosmetic. Therefore, since it was not originally supposed to be seen, we cannot have it exposed.
Every change we initiate inside the building has to be approved at the local, state and federal levels.
Local – Denison Historical Preservation
State – Texas Historical Society
Federal – National Parks Service
A lot of questions have come up about why we cannot do a lot of things inside our building. Some thought that because we are putting in a restaurant, that that would be the reason we have so many restrictions. It is not because of the function of the building, but because of the rules set in place for buildings registered as historical and set up to receive Federal-allocated Historic Tax Credits.
This is why we have to restore the building to exactly what it would have looked like in that era.