Historic restoration for Alton’s VSalon By Valerie a family affair

“That stuck,” Baumann said. “That’s what we all call it now.”

Her father-in-law restored most of the woodwork, with repurposed original wood from the 1875 three-story building, including a continuous staircase that contains 28 steps and 148 spindles.

“Charlie raised the entire staircase three inches, which was a jigsaw puzzle to put back together,” she recalled. “It is very grand now. It’s the most beautiful piece in the building. This was a father-son project.”

Baumann herself did all the painting, as well as sanding and caulking.

“My husband supports all of my dreams and makes them come true. He’s my biggest support,” said Baumann, who shares three children with her husband: Bo, 8, Luke, 5, and Zoey, 3. They also have a 16-year-old white poodle named Teddy who makes frequent appearances at VSalon By Valerie.

About 40% of the work was done by Olmsted Contracting, based in Alton. And Nest Design, owned by designer Ashleigh Schroeder, conceived and designed the custom-built floating stations as the full-service salon’s centerpiece, which is surrounded by exposed brick walls, as well as the salon’s powder room. She did all the design sketches and used a 3D program.

“Ashleigh helped bring my vision to life,” Baumann said. “I picked out pieces and she had a lot of incredible ideas. The salon would never be at the magnitude that it is if not for her. She really is a genius in design. The floating stations were her idea and my favorite pieces in the salon. I’m so curious to see how we bring the next couple levels of the building to life.”

The property, which broke ground Jan. 7, 1875, was originally owned by Henry Watson, a famous name in Alton history, who owned the Alby Street quarry and some railroads, as well as a portion of a Chicago-based water company. He also owned the still-standing Alton mansion at 6th and Alby streets, which was destroyed by fire and rebuilt with a mansard roof and widow’s walk. 

“From the widow’s walk you can see the VSalon building, and he could look down and see his own property, and we can see the widow’s walk from the salon,” said Baumann, who thoroughly researched the building’s history at the Hayner Public Library. 

“He built the building because of the railroad from Alby Street that ran right to it,” Baumann explained.

VSalon By Valerie’s building was built of bricks on a limestone block foundation by William J. Ferguson, another famous name of the era. Ferguson was known for his mansard roofs, and he also built the woodwork for Alton’s First Presbyterian Church at 4th and Alby streets.  

Originally the VSalon building was a hotel called Western Hotel for about 12 years, which according to Baumann’s research, was a nationwide chain hotel. Then it became West Boarding House, owned by Ned West, for another 12 years or so. 

According to records, the person who bought the building from West worked at the Alton glass works factory and the Duncan Foundry and Machine Co., a storied machine works facility.

“Because he and his son-in-law worked for the foundry and glass works, I think they sold it to the foundry, which bought it in 1918,” Baumann said. “It was the actual foundry address for over 80 years, until 1981.”

The foundry shut down, but still owned the building, she explained, which was used as foundry office space and had four built-in walk-in safes to house patents for the machines the foundry built. The Baumanns found one of the patents in the building, along with mint-condition foundry magazines from April and March circa 1950, all of which are displayed at VSalon By Valerie. 

“We found the combination to three of the safes and they are in use,” Valerie Baumann said.

The building sat for 15 years without utilities prior to Baumann and her husband purchasing the building more than a year ago. It took one year to restore.

“We got a great opportunity to purchase it, so we did,” Baumann said. “We wanted to maintain the integrity of the building and design, so we did everything possible to restore it. We reused a lot of the material that could have been scrapped and used repurposed wood to make a wall and the color bar.”

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Eventually the goal for the building’s second floor is a small additional part of the salon; right now it is Baumann’s personal music studio, where she plans to have musical jams with other musicians. Baumann is a bassist, which she plays for her church as well, and songwriter of Christian music. She has taken piano lessons for the last two years.

Original artwork representative of a guitar, piano and microphone, respectively, hung throughout the salon space pays homage to Baumann’s other artistic outlet, which is music. Her end goal is to have full recording studio on the third floor, as well as a permanent classroom for stylists. 

“This whole dream of mine, to me it feels like God’s will for my life, walking in what I was put here on this earth to do,” she said. “I also feel called to lead a bible study, including how to hear God’s voice, and understand dreams and visions biblically, and how we can handle life through God’s word.”

In about four to six months she will lead bible study on either Monday or Wednesday nights. 

Outside, she plans to expand VSalon By Valerie’s parking lot and courtyard, and build a two-story deck. The existing courtyard’s two sides are built with Alton’s Confederate Prison limestone.

“We are planning a lot of improvements on the building’s exterior,” she said. 

VSalon’s current hours are noon-8 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 8 a.m.- 4 p.m. Saturday. Call 618-433-1177 for an appointment. Visit www.vsalonbyvalerie.com and follow on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/vsalonbyvalerie/ and Instagram @vsalonbyvalerie for more information.