The Christman Company has taken the building at 408 South Elm Street and turned it into a shining gem. The three-story Italianate building, built in 1896,  is also known as the Cascade Saloon building. After the saloon, it was the Clegg Grocery Store. It sat empty for many years, until the Christman Company rescued it and worked their construction magic. The Christman Company was the perfect company to renovate and move into this building as their company was founded around the same time, actually two years before the building was erected. On the right side of the building (not photographed) are the railroad tracks and  the Southern Railway Passenger Depot, which was built in 1899. 

 The Christman building is beautiful and structurally sound, now. The City of Greensboro is currently working with the North Carolina Railroad Company to revitalize the historic building.  With every restoration along Elm Street, downtown becomes even more vibrant. We are hopeful it will become another place well loved by the community and that the integrity of the architecture will remain. We would also love to see downtown Greensboro used for more film projects as there are so many well-maintained historic buildings in the area.

These two buildings round out the 400 block of downtown Greensboro. It may well be the shortest block on Elm, perhaps in Greensboro. Does anyone know the shortest block in the city, or the longest block? We’ll need to start looking in to it!