Craft Breweries and Adaptive Reuse in the USA: The Use and Reuse of Space and Language

Abstract

Across the USA, there are thousands of commercial buildings that sit empty. For a variety of reasons, they have been abandoned by their previous occupants. In many cases, however, these buildings will be occupied by new owners who, very often, will use the space for a different purpose than that for which it was used by previous occupants. So an old church becomes a craft brewery, a car dealership becomes an art gallery, or a theater becomes a bookstore. These are all examples of what is termed adaptive reuse – “the process of repurposing buildings – old buildings that have outlived their original purposes – for different uses or functions while retaining their historic features” (Craven 2016). What is adaptive reuse? In some cases of adaptive reuse, the new owners of the building embrace the space’s former use by adapting language that recognizes its past. One example is the Church Works Brewery, a craft brewery in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, occupying space that was formerly a Catholic Church. Not only does the name of the brewery pay homage to the space’s former use but so too the names of many of the beers they produce (e.g., Pipe Organ Pale Ale and Pious Monk Dunkel). By exploiting language that reflects former building uses, the current owner creates a meaningful link between the past and present and in doing so helps to preserve reference to a building’s legacy. Using the example of craft breweries, we will explore how language has been employed to maintain the historical legacy of old buildings through the languages of architecture and the nomenclature a propos to the brewery’s former purpose.