Sometimes looking at a rehabbed building it is easy to forget how far it has come since construction began. The Commerce Building in Sedalia, Missouri came through this process utterly transformed. During the depths of the recession, an owner with a vision, a creative design team, an experienced contractor, and eager city leaders brought this downtown building back to life.
The Ilgenfritz Building, as it was originally known, was built in 1896-97 in the heart of Sedalia’s commercial district. It featured large storefront windows with cast iron columns and a clipped corner facing southeast toward the courthouse square. The building suffered the first of two fires in the early 1920s. Repairs after the first fire modernized the storefronts with bulkhead panels and prism glass transoms, and the building was expanded with the addition of eight bays to the north end. Around 1946 the storefronts were modernized again with the addition of metal panels. This latter renovation may have occured around the time of the second fire.
By 2009 the building was definitely showing its age. Among the significant issues it faced was delamination of the ornate sandstone facade. This deterioration was likely hastened by the water used to fight the two building fires. The extensively damaged stone received a breathtaking repair.
The rehabilitation reconfigured the interior of the building to accommodate 28 affordable apartments for families, as well as common space for the building tenants. A wide variety of historic fabric was sensitively incorporated into the design. Some units feature pressed metal ceilings and cast iron columns. There are historic tile floors, windows and doors (some with painted signage) in the upper story corridors. 
