Ernest and Julio Gallo launched their winery in 1933 in a small building at 11th and D streets in Modesto. The brothers would grow it into the world’s largest, headquartered half a mile east on Yosemite Boulevard.
The Gallo Founders Building, as it is now called, remains in company hands. The only indication of its history has been a plaque installed in 1994 along the 11th Street sidewalk. Ivy has obscured almost all of the facade.
“Following exterior vandalism to the building one year ago, we embraced the opportunity to turn a challenge into a creative solution,” said an email Thursday from Krista Fontana, director of corporate communications and public relations…