The old Brandon high school gets a new lease on life
Built in 1916, the old Brandon High School on West Seminary Street served the town until it was replaced by Otter Valley High School in 1961. While some longtime residents have memories of attending school in the then-state-of-the-art building, over the past few decades the building sat empty and fell into a state of disrepair.
Frank Briscoe Jr., an architectural conservator originally from Texas, has been involved with the building since the early 2000s and purchased it in 2017. Recently, Briscoe partnered with locals Jeff Dardozzi and David Martin, both of whom have extensive experience in the realms of architecture and construction. Dardozzi and Martin are now partners in Welcome LLC, the company that owns the building, and are managing the current phase of the rehabilitation, which is focused on restoring the exterior facade of the building
"Re-visioning Brandon High School," known as ReBHS, is a nonprofit group founded in 2023 and led by Dardozzi. Its mission is to educate community members about the built environment and empower them to shape it. Supporting the rehabilitation of the former high school has been one of the group’s primary focuses.
ReBHS plans to serve as the anchor tenant in the building’s basement level, where its workshops, co-working, and office spaces will be located. Many of its members are assisting the building’s owners with restoring historically significant features and helping transform the former school into a functional community space.
The organization has also contributed to the community in other ways, including creating the Brandon Free Public Library’s ToolShip program, and more recently, The Art Bikes of Brandon. This spring ReBHS hosted its biannual Repair Fair in the school’s basement workshop, and it is currently working on new projects to serve the community.
We recently spoke with Dardozzi and Martin at the former high school to learn more about what they are up to, what they have in mind for this remarkable structure, and how they expect the project will contribute to the future of Brandon.
