(NVR) - If you’ve driven Highway 29 north of St. Helena, you may be wondering what is happening at the Freemark Abbey Winery and the old stone building that once housed the Silverado Brewery. The roof and interior walls of the old building have been completely removed, and only the outer stone walls -- propped up with timbers -- are still standing.

According to Geoff Scott, who is the director of planning at Freemark Abbey, the building is undergoing a complete retrofit, in hopes of placing it on the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places.

The plan is to leave the stone shell and to redo the western and southern exposures with an outside terrace, according to Scott. The lower area of the winery will contain a barrel room, a wine library and a cafe. The upper level will be a new restaurant and a retail outlet. Plans are for the project to be completed in 2016.

The stone building that we know as Freemark Abbey has its roots back in 1886, and was originally named Tychson Cellars, according to the Freemark Abbey’s website. It was built by Josephine Marlin Tychson, who produced zinfandel, riesling and a Burgundy-style wine. She is credited with being one of the first female winery owners in California. It was recorded in local records that the stone for the winery was quarried from Glass Mountain, across the valley floor.

Tychson sold the winery to her foreman, Nils Larsen, in 1894, who in turn leased it to Antonio Forni. Forni then named the winery Lombarda Cellars after his birthplace of Lombarda, Italy. That name, “Lombarda Cellars,” can still be seen carved in stone above the lintel of the front building, but for years was covered with other signs. Scott said there was some relief when the last old sign was removed and the Lombarda Cellars stone block was uncovered. According to Scott, the retention of the original stone block with the name of the winery will be an important asset when the owners apply to the National Register of Historic Places.

How the winery became known as Freemark Abbey is a tale in and of itself. Until Prohibition in 1920 Forni continued to make Chianti and other Italian-style wines, which he purportedly marketed to Italian stone-cutters in Barre, Vermont. But when Prohibition was enacted, the winery closed. Then, according to the winery's website, in 1939 it was purchased by three enterprising businessmen from Southern California: Albert "Abbey" Ahern, Charles Freeman and Markquand Foster. They needed a label for their wines, and decided to combine parts of their three names to create the Freemark Abbey brand.