Babe’s Uses Antique Materials In New Construction Project

If you’ve driven Loop 820 in North Richland Hills, you may have noticed a bit of construction bustle recently. Previously, the lot housed the city’s library and recreation center and is now the project site for the newest location of the famed Babe’s Chicken Dinner House. The Tarrant County spot marks the 10^th  restaurant for the Babe’s legacy. And, while it is new construction, most of the construction materials are hardly new at all.

Each Babe’s is a compilation of reclaimed items from near and far stretching from all over the state of Texas. Every board, plank, and tile has been painstakingly sourced and meticulously selected. Often, when older buildings are demolished, they leave behind a wealth of assets that can live on in a new generation of buildings. In fact, it was in an effort to locate such a high volume of reclaimed wood for the Babe’s restaurants that Antique Lumber Company was founded. We invite you to take an exclusive peek at the exterior’s façade of the new North Richland Hills Babe’s to see all the exciting reclaimed items we’ve been able to use in its construction.

The clay roofing tiles hail from William Lewis “Bill” Moody’s ranch in Del Rio, Texas. The Moody Ranch helped bring Hollywood to Texas and was the backdrop for such films as Lonesome Dove and The Alamo. The exterior is also clad with over 125,000 4”x 8”x 2” bricks, most of which were sourced directly from the Gainesville, Texas area. Many came from the local Lutheran church with deep roots in the community as it also operated as the USO during WWII. Others came from an automotive shop on Commerce Street as well as the Kilgore Mercantile store located on Scott Street. Using a variety of bricks from various locations gives the exterior a district yet cohesive look.

The barn wood on the surface of the bus barn came to us by way of a demo site located at the corner of US82 and I35 in Gainesville. The location was once the site of a farm that raised Shetland ponies during the 1950s and 1960s.

This rolled tin was reclaimed from City Lumber in Pilot Point, Texas.

This v-groove siding was salvaged from various homes within the Gainesville area.

The Babe’s patio features the unusual building element of petrified wood. The stone came from a farmhouse located just South of Weatherford, Texas.

When the North Richland Hills Babe’s opens this Fall, we invite you and your family to come take a seat at our table. Experience our new building and see for yourself how each of these pieces lend charm and character to its surroundings. Until then, please visit us at our Antique Lumber Company warehouse in Gainesville, Texas just an hour North of the DFW Metroplex.