Faux windows and doors put a more attractive face on boarded-up Akron buildings

Source: www.ohio.com --- Friday, May 27, 2016
Boarding up vacant buildings is supposed to make them more secure. But in reality, plywood-covered Windows and doors just make empty buildings more obvious and neighborhoods uglier. Chris Toepfer thinks there’s a better way. Toepfer, an artist from Chicago, has devised a system for boarding up buildings using decorative panels that disguise their true purpose. He was in Akron this week, putting a cheerier face on parts of the city’s east side. Toepfer is executive director of the Neighborhood Foundation ( www.tnfamerica.com ), a nonprofit that does decorative board-ups around the country. He was hired by East Akron Neighborhood Development Corp. to work his magic on a couple of abandoned houses on Roselawn Avenue and two commercial buildings on South Arlington Street. Toepfer and three local laborers covered openings on the houses with panels painted to look like doors and Windows, and also trimmed the overgrown landscaping. They got even more ambitious on the commercial buildings, decorating the panels with motifs such as puffy clouds and faux stained glass. Their efforts pleased Wayne Pim, who lives across the street from one of the houses. “That looks really nice,” he called to Toepfer as he passed by. “Makes it look a lot better.” The panels may not look like real doors and Windows on close inspection, but the point is to make them less obvious from the street, Toepfer said. A potential thief or squatter probably won’t notice ...

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