Lights, Camera, Action: Roanoke's Bowman Hall takes spotlight in "Salvage Dawgs" reality show

The Roanoke College "Salvage Dawgs" episode will air again on the DIY network and possibly on HGTV in the future. Click here for the schedule.

A former Roanoke College residence hall is a show business star.

Bowman Hall made its television debut on Dec. 14 for a 10:30 p.m. episode of the reality show "Salvage Dawgs" on the DIY network.

The show features Roanoke businessmen, Robert Kulp and Mike Whiteside, owners of Black Dog Salvage, and their salvaging crew as they travel the country in search of unique furnishings and other materials inside historic buildings that are condemned or planned for demolition.  

On the show, Kulp, Whiteside and three other crew members visited Roanoke's Bowman Hall, a residence hall that was demolished last summer to make way for construction of the new Cregger Center, an athletic and academic facility. The crew also worked at the College's former entrance archway, known as the Ruins, which also was demolished last summer. The Roanoke College episode is part of season three for "Salvage Dawgs."

The Black Dog team of five salvagers, which includes former Roanoke College student, Ted Ayers, spent two days at Bowman in May, combing the then empty building, built in 1965, in search of unique treasures. 

Black Dog sells salvaged materials at its Memorial Avenue shop and also repurposes items for new uses that include mainly home furnishings and decorations.

At Bowman, the crew picked up tables, picnic benches, armoires, concrete trash can cases, double laundry sinks and dry erase boards. They also hauled what Ayers described as a "monstrous" empty safe from the bottom floor of Bowman. 

Ayers, a welder, said the Bowman job required a lot of metal cutting for railing and iron work. Much of the metal could be used in crafting tables to sell, he said.

"The iron fencing had circles that we loved," said Ayers, a warehouse manager for Black Dog who appears on all 13 "Salvage Dawgs" episodes per season. "We could see that as table legs."

Some of the items that the crew found in Bowman Hall are sold onBlack Dog's website.

Another former Roanoke College student, Meagan Cole '13, a freelance film producer, worked on the Bowman Hall job for Trailblazer Studios, the company that films "Salvage Dawgs." She is a production assistant, helping with various logistics on the film set.

Cole said she often works with "Salvage Dawgs" filming when the crew visits local or regional spots.

"I like creating the story," she said.

For Ayers, working at Roanoke College brought back many memories, though he didn't live in Bowman Hall when he was a student. Ayers lived in the Sections residence hall, but he said he spent a lot of time at Bowman with his friends who lived there.

He has worked for Black Dog for the past seven years, a job that he said is a nice change from his former day position in the insurance business.

Published Dec. 12, 2014