The challenge of the Bradford Building Restoration was to create the building's façade to be as historically accurate as possible. As there were no drawings of the original building, the architect and contractor spent a considerable amount of time measuring every detail of the building. The architect created a set of construction documents based on the information gathered at the site. He also recreated the ornate copper canopy from the newspaper photograph documenting the grand opening of the facility in 1915.

The damaged terra cotta pieces were removed in the largest sections possible, labeled, crated and shipped to the manufacturing facility in Orchard Park, N. Y. New molds were made to create an exact duplicate of the original pieces. There were a total of 367 pieces of terra cotta cast from 65 different molds.

The wood window sashes were removed, dipped and re-milled to receive laminated glass with a low film. Each sash was labeled prior to shipment to ensure re-installation would occur in the proper location.

Timbers and decking needed to replace termite-damaged members were specially milled on site. All replacement pieces were chamfered to match the pieces removed.

The original first floor storefront had already been removed by the previous owner and the ¼-in.-thick glass in the second floor storefront did not meet modern wind loading requirements. To maintain the original appearance of the building, ¾-in. glass was installed. Because of the excessively large openings on the second floors, the glass had to be specially ordered from a manufacturer located in Portland, Ore.

Since the glass panels weigh up to 800 pounds each, the frames had to be modified and the glass set with the assistance of a crane.