Our Unique Office Space in Downtown Danville

Cool Jazz Web Design Studio has an amazing new office in Downtown Danville. It’s taken a bit of time and effort to make the transition and to refurbish the space to make it perfect for us, but we are now settled in our beautiful and delightfully unusual office suite in the Bell Tower at the corner of Walnut and South Third Street.

Inside the historic Methodist Church, purchased by Starr Construction a little over a year ago, our office is graced with stained glass windows, soaring ceilings and… a round turret room in one corner.

Steve said it best, “The Bell Tower is quirky and cool, it fits us perfectly.” I couldn’t agree more!

An Amazing Landlord

Bernie Hundstad was a bit doubtful when we first approached him to see if he would be willing to rent the space to us. He was kind enough to show us a number of other office spaces he had available – and they were all quite nice — but none moved us like this one, even in it’s less than perfect condition. Even a large round room (which we also considered) didn’t suit us as well as The Bell Tower does.

He had never planned to use this particular room as office space, but was willing to let us talk him into it. And it was no small task to get things ready! I still can’t believe he agreed to all the work necessary to get it ready for us. This is what the space looked like when we first discovered it:

The plaster needed a bit of TLC, as did the rest of The Bell Tower — but the end result is amazing!

Bernie worked tirelessly with us to prepare the space, replastering and painting and meeting impossible deadlines — even helping us to move some of our larger pieces in and he got our huge desk into the tower by bringing in an industrial lift to get it up through the balcony. See the photos below! (Did I mention that our office has a balcony overlooking the sanctuary with even more stained glass and all that amazing architecture? Well, it does!)

Here are a few of the “during” photos of the renovation and the move in:

Lifting our huge desktop into The Bell Tower.

The Vision Takes Shape

My mother helped me measure the space, so we could start planning the layout for our office, even before any work had been done. There were piles of bricks in the floor, a literal hole in the main wall, plaster falling in here and there, and a number of other issues that needed to be addressed. Steve and I could see the potential. My mother could also see the potential.

Bernie was apologetic to my mother, “I tried to talk her into one of the other office spaces that are really nice, but she and Steve wanted this.” My mother assured him that she was well aware of how stubborn I could be and that Steve was also set on this particular space. She assured him that it was going to be lovely when we were finished. When you see the after photos (below) or when you come to visit us, you will see that she was right. (I never had any doubts at all!)

Our New Office: Cool Jazz Web Design Studio!

A Marriage of History and High-Tech

My 1930s Underwood Typewriter

Steve and I both love antiques and ancient tools as well as cutting edge technology. Steve admires and collects antique laboratory equipment, musical instruments and memorabilia, unusual tools and similar oddities. I write with a fountain pen every day and recently acquired an Underwood typewriter, circa 1930, (which I adore). I’m enthralled with handmade papers, calligraphy, old books and classic literature.

The church was built in 1892 and the architecture is amazing. Our new space lets us enjoy the best of the antiques and architecture and character we love, while utilizing the latest in technology to serve our clients. It’s a beautiful mix.

Yes, we kept it under wraps, we didn’t announce and wouldn’t divulge our plans even to our favorite clients until we had it complete. We are sorry for the mystery, but we wanted to get things done before the unveiling and we didn’t want clients and friends to see the space as it was (see the before photos above) until we had accomplished making it the way we wanted it to be.

We dropped off radar for a couple weeks while we worked to get things ready for the move, to prepare the space, to pare down our “stuff” and to move from the old location to our beautiful new office — but we are back now, in full force!

Our Office Hours

We will be open from 9-5 Monday through Wednesday and by appointment on Thursdays. You will use the Main entrance – beautiful arched doors – at 119 S. 3^rd Street to find us. Our signage will be complete within the next couple of weeks to help guide you to us.

In the meantime, just enter through the main arched doors into the foyer (where you will see white leather double doors), go right through the single door, go up the two half-flights of stairs to our office. Notice all the woodwork along the way — it’s lovely.

The landing has a display space we are still working on finishing (so give us a couple weeks to catch our breath!)

Since access to the Bell Tower suite does require climbing a few stairs, please let us know if you have any mobility issues and we will meet with you in a nearby room which offers full accessibility.

We will also be revamping our own website, once we recover from the move and we will be unveiling our new logo and new business cards later this month. So, stay tuned!

The Writing Tower

Eventually (after much pushing and digging in of heels and, finally, pouting), Steve agreed that the turret was NOT intended for use as a audio/video editing nook for him to load up with computers and equipment and all those blasted wires strung here and there — but that it was (as I thought all along) a perfect writer’s nook.

In a wonderfully gallant move, he sought and found the perfect antique writer’s desk for me to use in the writing nook. It’s simply lovely and he’s my hero once again (as usual). Now the turret is ready for me to enjoy with my writer’s journal and fountain pen, or my laptop (no wires!). The desk is divine… but we will have to go on some treasure hunting missions to find the perfect chair to match it. (The one I have now is nice, but it’s not suited for the space.)

So, if I’m writing online content for a client, working on a novel, or simply brainstorming for our next big project, I have the perfect environment to encourage brilliance! 🙂

Here, take a look… you will see what I mean:

The perfect writing nook! It’s a turret, how much more perfect could any creative space be?

Details, Details

Our new space will continue to evolve. We have plans that won’t be complete by the time our first visitors and clients come by – but that should just encourage you to visit us regularly to see what we have done next!

Right now, the basics are complete (with some amazing touches that go far beyond the basics), and we are open for business. We welcome the opportunity to show you our new space and to discuss your website and marketing needs.

Give us a call at 859-935-1984 and let’s schedule a time for you to come by! We can’t wait to see you … and show off The Bell Tower, the new home to our Cool Jazz Web Design Studio in Danville Kentucky – on the corner of Walnut and Third Streets.