District Brewing Wins Goldfinch Standard Award
At the beginning of each new year, [the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation] takes a moment to look back at the past year to remember and celebrate some of the great preservation successes we’ve seen. This year—more than ever—we could use some positive news! And so we present to you, the Goldfinch Standard (i.e. “gold standard,” but in honor of our state bird) for 2020! - WA Trust for Historic Preservation
Interior of District Brewing.
In July of 2018, Mark Shintaffer and his partners purchased the 1923 Lyric Theater Building. While it was a historic building with a prime location on the newly completed Skagit Riverwalk Plaza, some would say there was little else to recommend it. The building, which had changed hands several times over the four decades since it was last used as a movie theater, had most recently been the home of The Old Movie House Antiques. The aging building had been on and off the market for about five years prior to the sale. Many people believed the building was only good for demolition, and few people remained who remember its heyday as an entertainment venue in the community.
The Mount Vernon Downtown Association (MVDA) had considered purchasing the historic building to save it and repurpose it as a community civic event space, going so far as to enter feasibility period and commission an engineering study, before stepping away for fear of the project consuming all their resources and causing “mission creep.” However, the MVDA was delighted to share their research and engineering study with Mark and even more thrilled when he and his partners purchased the building with plans to rehabilitate and re-open the space as a local craft brewery and wood-fired pizza restaurant. Approximately $4 million and 20 months later, they had essentially built a building within the building to save and seismically retrofit the original structure. The new owners had great respect and appreciation for the history of the building, carefully conserving and repurposing many of its original elements, such as having custom tables and counter tops for the restaurant handcrafted from the original theater stage and floorboards. In keeping with the movie theater history, the pizza selections and other menu items are all named after movies—both the permanent menu offerings and the daily specials.
On March 15, 2020 District Brewing held a soft opening to the public, only to be subject to the first COVID-19 closure order 24 hours later. Nothing if not nimble, they were open for takeout within days and have not looked back since, building a robust curbside pickup and delivery program that was quickly in high demand and maximizing their frontage on the public plaza for outdoor dining as soon as it was safe to do so. While their vision for their business has yet to be fully realized in their 5,500-square-foot venue, they have been embraced by a community that is grateful for a cool new/old place with amazing river views, delectable food, and delicious craft beers, brewed on-site with locally sourced grains and malts.
Washington Trust for Historic Preservation. (2021, February 2). Goldfinch Standard - 2020. https://preservewa.org/goldfinch-standard-2020/
The Shintaffer family outside District Brewing in Mount Vernon.
The historic Lyric Theatre, now District Brewing!
The brew works of District Brewing.
