Marty Hulse and Tony Nies are both 35, broken-in but still serviceable, just like the items in their new architectural salvage shop at 342 N. Queen St.

Actually, most of the materials in the store predate their young owners by quite a bit.

A prized entranceway from 156 E. King St. was built in the 1820s.

Then there's the one-of-a-kind 1800 door latch. Glass doorknobs, brass lamps and wooden facades. Sinks and stoves, transom windows.

Mix in dashes of art, antiques and crafts and you have BUiLDiNG Character.

Headquartered in a circa-1900 garage designed by famed Lancaster architect C. Emlen Urban, the store opened on First Friday, Oct. 5. It caters to do-it-yourselfers, remodelers and pretty much anyone else fascinated by the bones and bric-a-brac of old buildings.

"Take a piece of Lancaster home with you" is Nies' and Hulse's motto. Their mission is to keep pieces of history out of the landfill.

Their other mission is to have fun.

"We're not looking to get rich," Nies said, but to "just really have a good time with this ... be a part of [the community]."

Dream house
The 3,150-square-foot former Lancaster County Storage Co. warehouse is in an alley next to Onion's Cafe, just off of North Queen Street. BUiLDiNG Character is in Warehouse B.

A visitor strolling through the accordian-style replacement garage doors is greeted by a quirky array of parts and pieces.

Prices vary from a few coins to $8,000 for the 19th-century entranceway. Wares are available over eBay. But you have to walk in to sample the flavor of the place.

Visitors can kick back on a couch and thumb through Nies' books about Lancaster.

And they can read the small handmade signs that describe some of the artifacts and even attempt to explain the old building's assorted creaks and groans.

"There might be a ghost in here," Hulse said mysteriously. "We've named him Chester."

Nies and Hulse gleaned portions of their inventory from the overhaul of the building itself.

But many items come straight out of the collections of the men, who were childhood friends.

Nies works for the business full time while Hulse, a newspaperman who is the editor of the Your Life section of the Lancaster New Era, devotes evenings and weekends.

Hulse has been squirreling away "old stuff" since he was a kid in Cabbage Hill.

Nies, meanwhile, moved away after high school and did marketing for big-name clients such as Walt Disney World.

He returned two years ago, intent on downshifting from big-city life and joining Lancaster's art and redevelopment revival.

"Let's open a business," he suggested last spring to Hulse, who had long dreamed of launching an architectural salvage trade. "Literally, the first developer we talked to was ready to go."

That would be the owner of the property, Rob Ecklin, a salvage stockpiler in his own right.

Ecklin teamed with general contractor Jason Stauffer of Paul Risk Construction to gut the interior. Workers removed most of the second floor, but transformed a small corner loft into a business office.

Sturdy white pine beams and exposed brick walls now exude turn-of-the-19th-century charm.

Eugene L. Aleci, the principal planner, architect and consultant for Community Heritage Partners on West Orange Street, is a frequent visitor.

"Tucked-behind spaces like that can be very valuable," noted Aleci, who added that the business fills an economic niche in Lancaster.

Aleci's wife, Linda, worked with the city's Historic Commission to spare the row of garages from the wrecking ball five years ago.

Forty percent of the country's landfills are taken up by construction and demolition debris, according to Gene Aleci. "Saving buildings is recycling, too."

Exactly, say Nies and Hulse. Their business dovetails with the area's frugal tradition of doing it yourself, they say, and never throwing anything away.

BUiLDiNG Character is working with Franklin & Marshall College officials to salvage materials from a redevelopment project along College Avenue, the men said.

But consignment sales and attic stashes also provide a steady stream of new inventory, according to Nies, who noted that "A lady came in the other day with a bag of doorknobs."

The partners hope to one day field their own salvage crew.

Also on the agenda are an early December fashion show to benefit the Milagro House, a spring flea market and workshops to show people how to creatively reuse materials.

"I'm a do-it-yourselfer from way back," Hulse said. He has been converting old window frames into chalkboards and bulletin boards in the project center, where his mom, Shirley Hulse, helps out.

His dad, Frank, meanwhile rewires old lamps.

BUiLDiNG Character will display acrylic landscape paintings by Timothy Brinton Rill through the end of the month and will introduce photographs by Scott Groff in November.

Crafts for sale will include pushpins by Rhode Island artist Jim Clift and Virginia Candle Co. WoodWick fragrance candles.

But historic rehab is the main event.

"People are always fixing up old houses," Hulse said. Helping them do that is satisfying.

"It's really nice," Nies said. "It's not work."

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Jon Rutter is a staff writer for the Sunday News. His e-mail address is jrutter@lnpnews.com.