gANDY COFFEE HOUSE

Our Restoration Journey

Take a look inside before our extensive restoration

An empty room with worn wooden floors and walls, two windows allowing natural light, exposed ceiling beams with electrical wires, and a ceiling light fixture. Part of the restoration of the Capt. J. F. Alston House and Purrsuasion Cat Cafe

Preserving History

In summer of 2025 we began restoring the iconic Captain J. F. Alston home. We started with a visit from the North Carolina State Preservation Office. As we walked through the home, we explored the homes history, from hand planed wood molding, to hand painted chimney mortar joints, original Queen Anne wainscoting, and linen back Victorian wallpaper. The information we learned about the home will help us to carefully maintain its historic artifacts for generations to come.

The homes restoration will involve removing layers of ceiling tiles and revealing the original beadboard or Gables original form. The front porch, originally adorned with Queen Anne Victorian trim, will be restored after carefully replacing each singular sawn drop pendant, cross and lattice rail, and sawn openwork balustrade to bring the wraparound porch back to its former glory.

The German wood siding will be restored after removing the vinyl siding. The original shutters, carefully stored in the homes basement by its previous owner, will be repaired and carefully put back on each window. Every piece of siding we uncover tells a story of the past, from the skill of the builders, and heritage and legacy of Pittsboro’s earliest neighbors. Our restoration efforts will balance maintaining the homes character and style while creating a beautiful and comfortable space for our community to use for book clubs, events, meetups and social gatheringsa number of original exterior walls inside the home, suggesting that there are two, and possibly three homes that were pushed together to make the current home we see today. During that time, building homes required hand made nails, hand milled (and later steam powered) milled wood, so tearing down a home was not practical. During our renovations we are uncovering the many clues that tell us about the home, its dating, and a glimpse into life in the gilded age of Pittsboro.

Decorative wooden gingerbread molding with ornate cutout design. This ornate molding will be restored to the Capt. J. F. Alston House front porch, made by Bennett Nooe, to the home of the current Gandy Coffee House and Purrsuasion Cat Cafe
Wooden decorative piece with reindeer and a four-leaf clover cutout in the center, will restore the historic wraparound front porch railing of the Captain J. F. Alston House which is currently Gandy Coffee House and Purrsuasion Cat Cafe

The Founder & Her Vision

Gandy Coffee House is the work of a careful steward who fell in love with this house from the moment she walked onto its worn floors. With a background in service, community building and restoration, the founder approached this project with the intention of letting the homes true character and simply to invite guests into it.

When the founder purchased this home, it had previously been meticulously cared for by its former owner who ran the award-winning Kachergis Book Design company from inside its historic walls. With the hope of providing the same stewardship and respect as its previous steward, she moved forward to transform this historic home into .

Pattern of blooming flowers, birds, and branches on a yellow background.
A two-story house with gray siding, red trim, a roof with shingles, and a front porch surrounded by bushes and trees.

Coffee. Cats. Community.

For the founder, Gandy Coffee House is about more than just exceptional espresso. Alongside the coffee house, she is opening Purrsuasion Cat Cafe, a cat cafe that helps Chatham community shelter and rescue cats. She also founded Java Bean Collective, Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to help spay/neuter, and re-home Chatham community cats. Together, their mission hopes to relieve the overcrowding burden on our local animal shelters and partnered rescues. Her mission aims to free up resources and space benefit both dogs and cats alike as well as reduce their environmental impact on local wildlife.

Gandy Coffee House exists to serve the house, the community of Pittsboro, and the guests who come to look for a place that feels quietly extraordinary. It is designed to be Pittsboro's living room—a place where you can step back in time to Pittsboro’s gilded age, enjoy a beautifully crafted cup of coffee, and know that you are supporting a space built on community, historic preservation, and saving lives.