Dad Lives In Abandoned High School With His Wife And Baby After Transforming It Into Their Home

Mar 15, 2021

The popular saying goes, "One man's trash is another man's treasure." What one may find to be useless, another person will make the best use of. This certainly goes for things such as old, out-of-date clothing or shoes, which are generally appreciated by those who are homeless or poor, as well odd things like wires and monitors that cannot be used any longer. Even with the strangest of things, like literal trash, people have found a way to turn things around and make the best use of throwaways. 

However, in a story that seems as strange as it does exciting, one man from Colorado saw an abandoned old building and decided to make that his treasure. Charles Shaw, his brother John Shaw and Charles' wife Lisa bought an abandoned high school in Durango, Colorado, in 1997. The building was 45,000-square-feet but in poor shape, even though its walls were solid brick. All Charles, saw, however, was the potential to make his long-time dream come true.

If given the choice, would you invest in an old, run-down building just because you saw that it had potential? While this is something many wealthy people do, Charles and his family weren't exactly extremely well-off. However, the three of them bought the building with the community in mind, and all of them strove to make it a space that was safe and open to all who wanted to express themselves. Even after more than two decades, the Smiley Building, as it is now known, lives up to its name and provides smiles to everyone in town. 

HistoryColorado.org reports that the building was first built in 1936 and was named after Emory E.  Smiley, the superintendent of Durango School District 9-R between the years 1906 and 1943. It was a flourishing junior high and senior high school for a long time until 1994 when the building was abandoned for the newly constructed Escalante Middle School. The government had declared it surplus property, and the building went on auction in the same year.  

“The hopes were that someone would honor the building, whatever they did with it,” said Kathy McKenzie, who attended the junior high school in the late 1950s, in an interview with the Durango Herald. After receiving many unsatisfactory bids, the Shaws decided to tour the building in 1997 to see if anything would come of it. Charles, John and Lisa were all immediately taken by the larger-than-life building. 

"Right away, we thought of a community center," Lisa told the news outlet. "All those ideas started circulating." After the three of them put together a bid, the school board heard their proposal and accepted it. In the beginning, however, the community was not sure how to react to the purchase. While Lisa owned a dance studio and was known by her students who supported her venture, Lisa and Charles had moved to the town only two years earlier, and many questioned whether they could properly execute their plan. 

“I understand that there were those pockets of people who were very concerned,” Lisa said in 2018. “And I don’t blame them. They didn’t know who we were.”

Both Charles and John had experience in renovating houses, so they almost single-handedly transformed the school into the landmark it has become today in the town of Durango. "Charles and John did all the heavy lifting," Lisa told the Durango Herald. "They did all the infrastructure that needed to be changed." They went slowly and room by room. Each time a room was completed, a tenant was allowed to enter and take the space.

Once the tenant was settled, they would move onto the next room and continue with construction until all rooms were completed. “We are grateful to those early tenants that had to put up with construction and all kinds of stuff,” Lisa added.

Charles had originally planned for the space to be an artistic hub where creative individuals could work on their projects and passions. Within a few months of use, it was clear that the current state of the building was not sustainable. The energy bill was costing Charles over $4,000 of his personal savings. However, the trio was always passionate about environmentalism and decided early on that the building would be tailored to be energy-efficient. 

"Our vision was how can we maintain this historic building, which is so beautiful, such a solid piece of work, and yet update it and make it efficient in today’s world?" Lisa said. Their vision for a highly energy-efficient building paid off, and today, over 95% of the building is powered by the solar panels that are installed on the roof. The costs of maintaining the building have since come down to literally nothing, as per DGO Magazine. 

They also cut down costs by installing motion sensors for lights in the building, installed water-saving toilets, and added a heat pump. According to the Durango Herald, the building also uses compact-fluorescent LED lighting, natural gas-fired boilers and high-efficiency wood. However, even with all of these upgrades, the Shaws have been able to maintain the "old-school" feel of the whole building.

"Having been built in 1936, it’s a treasure," Charles said. "It’s a solid piece of work, and sadly, buildings just aren’t built like that anymore. It’s so important to us to preserve it so that we can preserve the beauty of it, the integrity of the original architecture." 

Over the years, the building has become a model for how to build an energy-saving building, and quite importantly, has provided an incredible opportunity for people of all walks of life to pursue the things they love. The entire building is a mix of residential, commercial, institutional and something of an industrial space. 

“I wouldn’t call it an art colony. I try to push the limits of the mixed use. That’s way more interesting to me,” Charles told DGO Magazine. “I try to have a little of everything that I like here. There’s dance, yoga, artists, builders, nonprofits, architects, designers, and a lot of environmental organizations. That is a big part of what I’m interested in. Taking care of the planet. But also, I can genuinely say I really like every tenant. And there’s around 50 tenants.” It is quite incredible that the Shaws' vision has become such a beautiful reality! 

Charles currently lives in the renovated high school with his wife and their young child. The area has been dubbed the "Smiley Building" and is a landmark in the small town of Durango. Speaking about the impact this building has had on so many people, Tim Walsworth, executive director of the Durango Business Improvement District told the Durango Herald, "That building is a gem for Durango. They’ve invested a lot of money to make a really cool community hub that is one of if not the most environmentally friendly buildings that we have in this town. We’re pretty lucky to have the Shaws make the investment in that building to get it where it is today."

"If you’re sensitive to it at all, the energy is amazing," said the owner of The Smiley Cafe, Carrie Hladik, in an interview with DGO Magazine. “It is a unique experience. Not just what Charles does to the building, but the people that it draws. Everybody from college kids just trying to study who feel good in here to moms who want to expose their kids to different activities and lifestyles. It’s hard to put in words, but it is a unique experience ... I feel like community is a really good word for this place.”

Lisa Shaw is proud of what she and her husband have been able to achieve with their hard work. She also understands that the building is made by the people who embrace it for all that it is. "Without these people, it would be a beautiful building, but it wouldn’t have the life that it has," she said. "I’m so grateful that people continue to come and support it."

What do you think of this story? Would you ever move into an abandoned building like this family did? Tell us what you think and pass this along to your friends and family to see how they feel about this amazing accomplishment, too!