Adapt + Reuse

12/12/2020

This Old Hollywood Gas Station Now Offers a Different Kind of Fuel.

04/11/2020

Residence Inn's building in downtown Atlanta was originally built for an ill-fated partnership between two furniture magnates.

Though it has been known as the Downtown Atlanta Residence Inn for over two decades, the historic building at 134 Peachtree Street N.W. was originally constructed to house an ill-fated alliance of furniture magnates. The Rhodes-Haverty building, as it was historically known, was constructed in 1929....

29/10/2020

This old gas station in Hollywood now serves up Starbucks coffee.

The former gas station at the corner of Highland and Willoughby in Hollywood has a small footprint but a rich history. It’s been seen in movies like “48 Hours” and “L.A. Story,” photographs, and more, but for many years it sat vacant and crumbling – until coffee retailer Starbucks took.....

26/10/2020

The Pegasus in downtown L.A. was named as an homage to the glowing red Pegasus that once topped the Mobil oil building it occupies.

Located in the heart of Los Angeles’ central business district, the Pegasus apartment building at 612 S. Flower Street is one of downtown L.A.’s best examples of well-preserved Modernist architecture. The 13-story building was constructed between 1947 and 1949 as the General Petroleum Company’...

20/10/2020

This former train station complex in Minneapolis was redeveloped to house two hotels - and, at one point, it even featured an ice rink and water park.

While the days of major railroad activity in Minneapolis have long passed, there remains one significant reminder of that by-gone era within the city’s urban core: the former Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Company complex, now home to a mixed-use development called The Depot. Th...

07/10/2020

The former Kress five-and-dime store in Savannah is now home to a different retailer - plus a residential component.

Savannah, GA, is home to one of the largest and most impressively preserved historic districts in the country. As a result, it’s also home to several great adaptive reuse projects – all of which we’ll cover here in due time – that utilize some of the city’s most iconic historic...

02/10/2020

What was once the "tallest skyscraper in the Northwest" is now a W Hotel.

Next time you visit Minneapolis, you can stay a night in the historic Foshay Tower building, once dubbed the “tallest skyscraper in the Northwest” and now home to W Minneapolis Hotel. The 32-story tower at 821 Marquette Avenue was developed by Wilbur B. Foshay, who worked with architectural firm...

28/09/2020

Overzealous branding can distract from an otherwise earnest effort in historic preservation.

When planning an adaptive reuse development, signage is not typically something that garners a lot of consideration – but the failure to do it right can negatively affect an otherwise great project. Commercial signage has evolved quite a bit over the years, particularly with the addition of LED-po...

25/09/2020

Minute Maid Park in Houston, TX, incorporates the city's old train station into a modern baseball park.

The old Union Station building in Houston, Texas, is now an entrance and team shop for its downtown ballpark, Minute Maid Park.

15/09/2020

Minneapolis is home to yet another example of a preserved and reutilized historic Sears building.

There’s something about old Sears buildings that makes them perfect for large-scale adaptive reuse projects. From Atlanta to Seattle, old Sears, Roebuck, & Company warehouse and retail buildings have been put to various new uses. In south Minneapolis, the old Sears building now lives on as the mix...

05/09/2020

This old mall in Jacksonville, FL, is now a church-led community center.

Located a little over five miles from the center of Jacksonville, FL, the structure that’s now known as Kingdom Plaza began its life as one of five shopping malls built in the city during the 1960s. Normandy Mall began as a standalone Montgomery Ward, once a department store giant among the...

01/09/2020

The Liberty Hotel in Boston was originally home to significantly less willing guests.

When visitors to downtown Boston, MA, stay at The Liberty on Charles Street, they’re staying willingly in a building that was originally designed solely for non-voluntary habitation. Indeed, a significant portion of the hotel – located at 215 Charles Street, just off of Longfellow Bridge – was...

26/08/2020

Exploring the controversial topic of facadism

One of the most frequently debated topics in the fields of adaptive reuse and historic preservation is the practice of facadism. But just what is facadism – and why is it so controversial? Facadism is defined as preserving the architectural details of the outside walls – or façade – of...

20/08/2020

This 1960s-era Modernist office building, used for four decades by Orlando's utility company, is now an Aloft hotel.

Though Aloft Orlando Downtown Hotel has been open for less than a decade, the building in which it resides has a history dating back to the late 1960s. The building first opened in April 1968 as the Orlando Utilities Commission’s administrative building. The eight-story, Modern-styled office build...

10/08/2020

What was once a downtown Denver department store building still does house a department store - but now it also offers a residential component.

What was once home to A.T. Lewis & Son Department Store in downtown Denver now houses residential lofts and ROSS Dress for Less.

03/08/2020

A small-scale example of adaptive reuse from our sister publication The Coastal:

It’s hard to think of a type of company better suited for an adaptive reuse project than one specializing in building restorations. It should come as no surprise, then, that the local operations of national restoration company Paul Davis Restoration are located within what used to be an automobile...

29/07/2020

What was once a Nabisco production hub in downtown Houston is now home to over 50 apartment units.

Though it’s now home to over 50 loft-style apartment units, the building at 15 North Chenevert in Houston, TX, was first a production hub for snack manufacturer Nabisco. The six-story building, located a few blocks over from Minute Maid Park, was constructed in 1910 as the southwestern production ...

17/07/2020

Amelia Island's county jail is now its museum of history.

While jails today range from innovative to giant plain boxes on the architectural spectrum, historic jail buildings were usually designed to look every bit as ornate as any other civic structure. Such is the case with Amelia Island Museum of History’s building in Fernandina Beach, FL, originally c...

16/07/2020

This is definitely not your typical Barnes & Noble.

What was once Rosenberg's Department Store in downtown Santa Rosa, CA, is now a Moderne-style Barnes & Noble bookstore following '90s renovations.

10/07/2020

You can now live in the former headquarters of Heinz in Pittsburgh.

The 260+ unit Heinz Lofts in Pittsburgh is comprised of five buildings that once served as production houses for the H.J. Heinz Company.

03/07/2020

What was once the home of Detroit's fire department is now an upscale boutique hotel.

When Detroit Fire Department moved to a new headquarters building, its previous 1929 building was repurposed into the Foundation Hotel.

25/06/2020

European Street Cafe in Jacksonville utilizes an old Streamline Moderne-style service station.

European Street Cafe in Jacksonville's affluent Avondale neighborhood utilizes an old service station from Orange State Oil Company.

19/06/2020

Though it's been home to Starbucks for over two decades, the Starbucks Center in Seattle was originally home to a different American staple: Sears, Roebuck, & Co.

Starbucks Center in Seattle, WA, has served as the coffee company's world headquarters for over two decades but was originally home to Sears, Roebuck, & Co.

12/06/2020

Baltimore's Pratt Street Power Plant has actually been a part of two different adaptive reuse projects.

Though its usage has changed a few times over the years, the Pratt Street Power Plant complex has long served as a reminder of the industrial roots of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. The Power Plant, located at 601 E. Pratt Street, was originally built between 1900 and 1909 to serve as...

09/06/2020

Philly's iconic PSFS Building and its equally iconic signage live on as the Loews Philadelphia Hotel.

The iconic PSFS Building (Philadelphia Savings Fund Society)

05/06/2020

You can now take college courses within this old "luxury mall" in Jacksonville, FL.

Students at Florida State College of Jacksonville’s Deerwood Center campus get the unique experience of taking classes in what was once an upscale shopping mall. The campus was originally built in the early 1980s as the two-story, $16 million Grande Boulevard Mall. Designed by The Haskell Company,...

04/06/2020

America's oldest shopping mall, built in 1828, is still standing and now houses shops and micro-lofts.

The Westminster Arcade in Providence, RI - America's oldest shopping mall - lives on as The Arcade Providence, a mixed-use residential and retail center.

03/06/2020

The old TWA terminal at JFK Airport in New York was repurposed and now serves as the lobby for TWA Hotel.

What was once the TWA Flight Center at JFK International Airport in New York is now a retro-style, 512-room hotel and event center.

29/05/2020

The High Line in New York is a prime example of how to reuse aging infrastructure.

While most adaptive reuse projects involve a building of some sort, some of the most innovative examples of adaptive reuse in America instead focus on outdated or unused infrastructure. A perfect example of this type of infrastructure reuse is the New York High Line, a 1.45-mile elevated public park...

27/05/2020

Chicago's old water tower is a great example of a not-so-traditional adaptive reuse project.

Generally speaking, water towers are usually relatively boring structures, built for utilitarian purposes rather than aesthetics. But that wasn’t the case for the old Chicago Water Tower and Pumping Station, which over the years has become a Chicago landmark due to its longevity and its grandiose ...

22/05/2020

ICYMI: TWA's old terminal at JFK Airport in New York is now the lobby for TWA Hotel.

What was once the TWA Flight Center at JFK International Airport in New York is now a retro-style, 512-room hotel and event center.

20/05/2020

The Brownley Confectionery building in D.C. now houses the popular District Taco.

The Brownley Confectionery building in Washington, D.C., is now home to District Taco as well as upper-floor office space.

15/05/2020

One of the entrances to Houston's Minute Maid Park was once the city's Union Station building.

The old Union Station building in Houston, Texas, is now an entrance and team shop for its downtown ballpark, Minute Maid Park.

13/05/2020

Check out this story from our sister publication The Coastal about great examples of adaptive reuse projects in Jacksonville, FL.

As cities age, they must figure out what to do with historic buildings that have outlived their original purpose. For many years, Jacksonville’s most common solution to this dilemma was to just demolish the buildings. It’s why there are so many surface parking lots and parking garages downtown, ...

12/05/2020

The Frist Art Museum in Nashville once served as the main local distribution hub for the U.S. Postal Service.

The Frist Art Museum in Nashville, TN, was originally built in 1934 as the U.S. Postal Service building

08/05/2020

Denver's D & F Tower was once part of a larger building that housed a prominent downtown department store.

Tourists walking around the lower downtown district of Denver might be surprised – and confused – when they come upon the Daniels & Fisher Tower at 16th and Arapahoe streets. Something about the structure makes it appear that it was once a much larger building, and sure enough, it was....

06/05/2020

What's now a federal courthouse was once one of Pasadena's nicest hotels.

The grand Richard H. Chambers Courthouse sits atop a hill overlooking the Arroyo Seco in Pasadena, CA. It’s one of the city’s most prominent visual landmarks, and since 1985, it’s served as the southern seat of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals – but that’s just a fragment of the...

05/05/2020

What do you all think: are facadism projects such as this one in Jacksonville true examples of adaptive reuse?

After years of neglect, what was once a depleted former bank building on a high-visibility downtown Jacksonville street corner is now the upscale, state-of-the-art Cowford Chophouse. The Bostwick Building, as it was previously known, was one of the first new structures to open after the Great Fire o...

04/05/2020

The old Joslins building in downtown Denver got its historic brick exterior back thanks to renovations to convert it into a Courtyard by Marriott hotel.

While nowadays there are plenty of companies that would love to own a well-preserved historic property, doing so wasn’t always something companies had in mind decades ago – especially if that property had been in their possession for many years. That was the case with the Joslin Dry Goods Co....