Odd structure at East Fifth and Springdale in Austin houses wood specialists Delta Millworks

Before the "Austin Answered" column reopened for business almost a year ago, one often-asked query came up fairly frequently.

What's that industrial-looking building at East Fifth Street and Springdale Road in East Austin?

It looks old. It is.

Now, Austin usually does not pay much attention to its historic industrial buildings, but this one stands out.

Over the decades, I've attended some parties in the work yard behind the main structures. Also, a sculpture exhibit inside the long, low, dark spaces that, since World War II, have housed various types of woodworks.

In 1946, it housed Fabricon, a company started by four veterans who built closets and cabinets for Austin's burgeoning postwar generation. The overseas vets, led by Ned A. Cole, dreamed up the project while serving in the South Pacific.

Fabricon included a modern showroom for the property that straddled the city limits, which allowed the owners to evade some zoning restrictions. The complex expanded at least three times in just its first few years, according to a Aug. 30, 1949 American-Statesman article.

Since 1985, it has been known as Delta Millworks and it still is an active factory. The company is now run by Robbie Davis, son of Delta founder Bob Davis, who started the business 40 years ago. The Davis family continues to take new and reclaimed wood and turns them into façades and other architectural surfaces.

"Dad would take fencing from old cattle ranches," Robbie Davis says. "He reclaimed wood from Texas but also the South, Midwest and the East Coast. You have to salvage from many different structures to have enough."

So why did his dad use the name "Delta"?

"Dad was from Louisiana, around the Lake Charles area," Davis says. "He was the son of a carpenter who ended up in the restoration millwork business at Delta. He also worked for Glastron, which made boats, including the Batmobile boat for the Batman movie (which premiered in Austin)."

What is done to wood these days

Tall and easy in his work clothes, Davis, 39, a graduate of Austin High School and St. Edward's University, gave me a tour of Delta Millworks as it operates today.

Outside, a verdant garden complements the midcentury lines that still define the façade. Inside, the guest views samples of the finished wood products as they might appear to an architect, builder or interior designer.

Just behind the office doors, however, are three long, large warehouse-style rooms where employees cut and finish wood old and new. Every once in a while, one spots a cat who acts like the owner of the place.

"Eighty percent of the material these days is new," Davis says. "It has been sustainably harvested from tree farms — pines, cedars, spruce, for instance — which is the future of wood and forests."

With current technology, the wood is sometimes modified with heat or a clean chemical. One type is modified by vinegar impregnation. They come with names such as Accoya or Lunawood.

Some of the local structures finished with Delta Millworks products recently are the Austin Proper and Thompson Austin hotels, the Yeti flagship store and the Dylan Wylde Boutique.

"Wood is the best material that one can work with," Davis says. "Better than anything manmade. People respond to it innately."

At one point during the tour, Davis showed me a model room that was exhibited at a trade show with cladding that is an updated version of Japanese "shou sugi ban" siding.

"This is what made our name nationally," says Davis, who owns the business with partner Price Taylor. "It's wood siding with charred surface. We do the wood burning in-house."

The past meets the future at Delta Millworks

Another family member, his mother, Nancy Webb, can be seen at times.

"She's been through everything at this business, thick and thin," Davis says. "She comes in to take care of the gardens and the cat, while making sure we are on the straight and narrow."

Davis shows me some reclaimed old-growth Douglas fir which is no longer harvested in numbers. Nearby are some impressive longleaf pine timbers which were used for structural supports where steel I-beams might be used today.

Every space at Delta Millworks inside and outside bustles with energy. Despite the updated machinery and techniques, it looks a lot like historical pictures of factories from 75 or 80 years ago.

Yet it won't look exactly this in about two years.

"It's a cramped property," says Davis, who owns the property with his sister, Rachel Davis. "We're going to move most of the work to a place in Wimberley. But these buildings will stand. We plan to make them into a showroom and design center, with a food hall attached as well. We'll invite artists, makers and craftspeople to join us."