BREWHALLA, Fargo, N.D.
RETROFIT TEAM
ARCHITECT: MBA Architects
MATERIALS
The Northern Pacific Railway Company (NPRC) built the 11,700-square-foot building that houses Brewhalla in 1883—before North Dakota achieved statehood. It was primarily a foundry and repair building for railcars and locomotives and later served as a storage and warehouse facility.
When Kevin Bartram of MBA Architects purchased the abandoned building, he had a vision in mind. “Kevin always knew he wanted to make this his home and live in the north end of the building,” says Darin Montplaisir, one of Drekker Brewing’s four cofounders. “He had envisioned a brewery in the other half of the building, so he approached us, and we jumped on the opportunity.” (Brewhalla is Drekker Brewing’s second location.)
Brewhalla’s structure is built with masonry load-bearing walls and a timber-framed roof. Besides adding necessary structural reinforcements, most of the wood and brick in the building is original. Part of the restoration process was finding new uses for the building’s old elements. For example, some of the original nuts and bolts were used in installing new wood pieces, and the taproom tables are made from extra wood from the building. Even the skylights have an old purpose: they served as smoke chutes for the train exhaust.
In its early days, trains entered the maintenance building through one of three large doors along
the east side of the building. The openings are now fitted with three custom-designed doors that each serve a different purpose. The middle door is a standard customer entrance door. The doors on either side of the patron entrance required a fully custom solution and were designed and installed by Midland Door Solutions, which specializes in custom hydraulic and bifold doors.
“We performed historic research and found drawings of similar doors in other NPRC buildings,” says James Monson, architect at MBA Architects. “However, we wanted the benefits of modern technologies.”
MBA Architects worked with Midland Door Solutions to create a set of oversized doors. They each measure 12-feet wide by 16-feet tall and weigh 2,300 pounds. Midland Door Solutions mirrored the pattern and elements of the main entrance door; heavy, dark lines contrast the windowpanes and pop against the light-brick building.
The southern door is a vertical bifold door that serves as a shipping and receiving entrance. It’s made with heavy-gauge steel tubing and has a fully automated operating system. The door opens and closes quietly in seconds, which is critical when it is used throughout the day while customers are present.
The door on the north side of the building is also a vertical bifold but operates manually with a pin and latch system. The handles inside the door make it easy for one person to manually open the door to go out to the patio and/or patronize food trucks in the parking lot. Both doors have a weathertight seal to help combat North Dakota winters.
The settling and shifting of a building over time posed challenges for the contractors installing new pieces into an old building. The door arches aren’t symmetric, either, meaning the team at Midland Door Solutions had to precisely measure each door to ensure a perfect fit. Because the building is constructed out of uneven brick, the team had to laser measure the arches incrementally across the opening. They then had to lay out the measurements in modeling software, average out the dimensions and create symmetric-looking doors.
CUSTOM BIFOLD DOORS: Midland Door Solutions
THE RETROFIT
Today, conversations buzz and beer flows from Brewhalla’s taps. In the distance, a train roars past. The train’s presence reminds patrons the brewery and taproom’s building spent its early years as a locomotive maintenance facility and that the brewery’s features are heavily influenced by the building’s history. According to the owners, the building often leaves patrons in awe. “They get out of their cars, and you can see them say ‘wow,’” Montplaisir says. “That’s one of our continuing goals: to keep people saying ‘wow.’”
PHOTOS: Midland Door Solutions