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Schools get 2nd lives as homes
For two years, Chris and
Michele Komora searched the United States, looking for an old school to renovate and call home.
"We wanted to find a building that wasn't too huge and unmanageable, but something that
was unique that we could fix up and keep us busy," said Chris Komora, a Chicago native who's retired from the military. "Also, we are
foster-care certified, so the idea of having this much room -- and a gym -- was really appealing."
HISTORIC INDIANA
GYMS:
In 2003, after looking at more than 200 schools from
Idaho to New York, they found their nirvana: the former Sandusky High School, a few miles north of Greensburg in Decatur County. For
$95,000, the Komoras bought a building that hadn't been used in 35 years, with a gym built in 1936 as a Works Progress Administration
project.
Rooms were filled
with trash. There were dead rodents. The roof leaked. Windows were broken.
As the Komoras worked to restore the building over the next three years, they
drew curious stares from residents of the unincorporated town, many of whom were Sandusky graduates.
Some were skeptical, but not all. A group of
Sandusky alumni, led by Jim Spillman (Class of 1944), helped the Komoras renovate. A new roof was put on the gym,
handicapped-accessible bathrooms were added, and the bleachers and original goals were scraped and painted.
Now the gym is just another room -- a big one --
in the house. Named for Spillman, who died in 2007, the gym looks much as it did in 1936. The Komoras hosted a Sandusky school reunion
in the gym in 2006, 28 years after the previous one.
"I'm thrilled to see it still standing," said Arthur Cleland, a 1947 graduate who helped with the
renovation. "Every time we drive past it, it means a lot to see it there. Every game back then would be standing-room-only."
The Komoras aren't the only
Hoosiers living in an old gym.
Bob and Ginny Patterson bought the gym of the former Perry Central High School in Boone County in 1986 and operate
their business, Fayette Nursery, out of it. They lived in a camper parked inside the gym for two years while they renovated the stage
into their home. The locker rooms are now a kitchen and bathroom.
"We get people that come up here all the time and tell us how it used to
look," Bob Patterson said. "They get a kick out of it."
Old gyms in Bridgeton, Mulberry and Wilkinson also are now residences. The Broady family in
Wilkinson literally lives in the gym -- after four years of work, there are three bedrooms and three bathrooms that take up half of
the 1950 building. Half of the bleachers remain, as well as one of the original goals.
"You think it might sound unusual," Michele
Komora said. "But about 80 percent of the people we talk to comment on how cool it is. Maybe they wouldn't actually ever go out and
do it, but if we hadn't, we would have always wished we had."
After several years of searching for an old
school to renovate and live in, Chris and Michele Komora bought the Sandusky school for $95,000 in 2003. With the help of the now
deceased Jim Spillman, a group of volunteers called the "Friends of Sandusky" helped to restore the gym, painting and repairing the
bleachers and railings and repairing the doors and basketball goals. The names of the volunteers are displayed on a wall inside the
gym, which hosted a class reunion in 2006, the first at the school since 1978.
Remnants of basketball: Before the gym was
built, Sandusky’s teams practiced on an outdoor court behind the school or at a YMCA in Greensburg, where it also played its home
games. The Blackhawks won a regional championship in 1921. Although the gym has been restored, it looks much like it did when it was
originally built. Large windows on both ends of the court add to the atmosphere. With eight rows of bleachers on one side of the
floor, the gym maybe held 250 fans at capacity.
Click here to visit a great article with links to other
schools!!
http://www.indystar.com/article/99999999/SPORTS/90320053
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