Gilsey House: Hints of the Building's Past(s)

At first glance, the inside of Gilsey House offers little to the visitor curious about its history. But look closely and bits of the distant and recent past begin to come into focus...

We were wondering about the masonry bump in the west wall of the Living Room...

Could it have been a fireplace in an 1869 hotel room?

The blocked up opening led into the freight elevator
(added when the building was converted to commercial lofts in the 1930's)

These original accordion shutters are in the Master Bedroom.
They don't open (yet) but I suspect the hidden panels are louvered.

There is something sad about this very 80's sconce with its wan green light in the bedroom.

Looks like this was a fire pull of some sort? Mounted on the back of the electrical panel.

This is a somewhat mysterious piece of (audio?) equipment.

The bronze medallion from City College was used as a pull on one of the industrial light fixtures.

The verso tells more of the story...

Everything about this is classic late 70's/early 80's