Eco Relics is home to an eclectic collection of salvage, collected and worked on by an eclectic group of employees. Since its start 6 years ago, Eco Relics has collected architectural salvage in North Florida from homes, businesses, churches, government buildings, and more.
When asked to define architectural salvage, each employee has a slightly different answer, but they all agree the business is about giving old things new life. Nate Yewell, also known as red beard, described his work in architecture salvage over the last five years.
"Architectural salvage, to me, is a building material that has been used in either a business, home, or office that is part of the structural components of the building."
Stephen Coffey, who had worked at Eco Relics for six years, defined what he does in his own way.
"I would define it as taking the pieces from homes or buildings that in the past may not be fad now, the in thing now, and saving them for a later time, when it then becomes something that somebody can use again."
The process of architectural salvage is something few people think about. The question of where an entire buildings worth of stuff goes when its remodeled or torn down is often one that goes unanswered. Throughout Eco Relics there are some new additions, hand picked from the Jacksonville Landing, which just began the demolition process last week. Coffey elaborated on the process of getting the rights to save certain Jacksonville Landing items from the landfill.
"We see something in the news, and we knew there was a contract that was out for bid for the demolition of the landing. So we just were patient and kept doing research and tried to find out the name of the demolition company that won the bid before it actually went public. The we just kept reaching out to them until we got an answer from someone at the demolition company, and we were able to work out a deal."
After Eco Relics got permission from the demolition company, they toured the landing with them and picked out things they wanted to remove. They pay a sum for each item based on an agreement with the company, and send workers out to remove the salvage and bring it to the Eco Relics warehouse. This process takes place over and over again in different capacities throughout Jacksonville, and through this process all sorts of interesting things end up finding a new life at Eco Relics.
On a quick walk through the sprawling warehouse, you might find the door from the old Duval County Courthouse, or a sheet metal Cutout of Ronald McDonald, right next to a door to Hooters taken from the landing. The towering shelves are loosely organized, but don't shy away from clutter. Because of this, every aisle feels like a discovery, like you're privy to something you shouldn't be allowed to see. The warehouse contains anything and everything, from the mundane to the fascinating. Next to a genuine refurbished slot machine is a shelf full of dusty soap dispensers, taken from the wall of a bathroom that probably no longer exists.
Eco Relics also contains a full wood shop, staffed by skilled carpenters and woodworkers who use salvage wood, doors, and barns to craft custom installations for customers. Coffey and Yewell both have used barn wood for various projects, making bed frames and furniture. Eco Relics is like an ant colony in that way, utilizing every part of any bounty they happen to catch. Anything valuable is cleaned up or repaired and sold on the main floor, anything less valuable gets scrapped and turned into wood to build grand doors, chairs, or custom furniture for special orders.
Eco Relics fills a gap that many people didn't know existed in the first place. They're the middle man between an old building and a landfill, saving what they can to give back into the community that gave them the salvage to begin with. After talking with some of the employees, it's clear that these people care about more than the turnover they get from the things they salvage. Eco Relics is building Jacksonville in the image it once was, using what the city once threw away to make it beautiful again.
All Photo and video taken by River Cordova
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