Ed Walker, David and Ann Trinkle accept awards from RVPF's George Kegley (top); Fork in the City (next down); the Cotton Mill (above); and Access (left) are among the winners(The following press release is from the Roanoke Valley Preservation Foundation. The awards will be presented tonight at Access in downtown Roanoke.)
Five renovation/adaptive reuse projects in the Campbell-Marshall Avenue fringe area of Old Southwest and the new Salem Avenue Historic District in Roanoke top the list of 11 awards announced by the Roanoke Valley Preservation Foundation during National Preservation Month.
Most of the awards recognize outstanding reuse of existing buildings, a familiar theme for preservationists. Each spring, the foundation selects examples of good work by developers and home-owners to raise awareness of the high value of preservation. In the fall, the foundation targets most endangered sites.
“Many of these projects are in the area around the Jefferson Center, which seems to be an up-and-coming neighborhood,” says Foundation President Mike Kennedy. “I think next year we may have more award winners from this part of the city.”
The awards recipients for 2009:
- Access advertising, adaptive reuse, Todd Marcum, Tony Pearman, partners
- Fork in the City, renovation, Ed Walker, owner, David and Ann Trinkle, tenants
- Cotton Mill, adaptive reuse, Ed Walker, developer/owner
- Nehi Bottling Lofts, adaptive reuse, Dan Flynn, owner
- Jim and Ann Haynes, renovation of old homes in Old Southwest
- StageSound, renovation, Reid Henion, president
- Mill Mountain Coffee and Tea, renovation, David Johnson, principal owner
- Antique Blue, renovation of an east Campbell Avenue store for an antque shop, owned by Mickey and Nancy Nelson, daughter Hunter Dominick and her husband, Bayard Dominick
- Roanoke Residential Pattern Book, education, Hill Studio & City of Roanoke
- Fellers House, renovation, Blue Ridge Behavioral Healthcare, owner, Gail Burress, director of adult clinical services
- Ron Crawford, environmental stewardship, organizer of Read Mountain Alliance to save top of Read Mountain with conservation easements
- Access Advertising is a newcomer to 701 Patterson Ave. The growing advertising agency, renovated the old Blue Ridge Motors Buick dealership in the newly designated Salem Avenue Automotive Commercial Historic District. The 1930s building has original barrel vaulted ceiling, concrete floors, original woodwork in offices and original doors, offset stairs to storage areas
Flynn rehabilitated the 1921 building, which has two one-bedroom condominiums on the second floor. Parking is in a downstairs pull-in garage and a courtyard is located on the side. The simple design features hand-fired yellow brick with an ornate cornice. The structure has been restored and rehabilitated to serve in a new residential capacity.
The Nehi Bottling and Cotton Mill projects are expected to encourage more renovation and revitalization in the Salem Avenue Automotive District.
Developer Ed Walker has invested in two projects in a critical edge of the Southwest Historic District, including the Cotton Mill and Fork in the City at the intersection of Marshall Avenue and Sixth Street. Fork in the City, at 551 Marshall transformed a former 1930s blue-collar restaurant/bar into a restaurant with outdoor dining. Fork in the City extends the Trinkles’ successful restaurant following from Fork in the Alley in South Roanoke to this developing area of Old Southwest.
The building, featuring a distinctive cornice and clipped corner entrance, had been painted white and the storefront windows filled in. Now it is chocolate brown with orange and blue accents to emphasize the interesting brick work. The renovated building stands as a cornerstone to the revitalized neighborhood. The storefronts have been restored with sliding windows to enhance the indoor/outdoor experience. The Trinkles uncovered heart-of-pine flooring, faux-painted the tin tile ceiling and added two patios, combining the historic character of the building with its corner location near the Jefferson Center and their own unique recipe for a great neighborhood restaurant.
Key to the success of the restaurant and the revitalization of this area of Old Southwest is the conversion of the former Roanoke Mills building (recently known as the Cotton Mill) into 108 apartments on 6th Street. Constructed in 1919 with later additions, the large 106,000-square-foot building has stood vacant for years.
Walker originally planned to develop condominiums but the mortgage market slowdown changed that plan to studio, one-and-two-bedroom apartments and live/work units, ranging from 450 to 1,200 square feet on four floors. Some have maple floors, exposed brick walls, granite kitchen counter tops and roof-top decks. Most significant to the appearance of the building was the restoration of the original steel-sash windows that had been replaced over the years with glass block. The Cotton Mill apartments and Fork in the City will help revitalize this fringe area of Old Southwest and help link it to downtown and the cultural/recreational hub of the Jefferson Center and the YMCA.
Jim and Ann Haynes have renovated 511 Day Ave., SW, known in the neighborhood as “the pumpkin house,” along with their home at 526 Marshall Ave., their former home at 545 Day Ave. and 614 6th St. Jim Haynes, a contractor, milled the trim at 511 Day to match the old and he retained the wood flooring, stairs and banister. The home, well over 100 years old, has such “green” features as paperstone counters and bamboo cabinets.. The Haynes couple were described as “urban pioneers who have renovated old homes in a transitional part of Old Southwest.”
Reid Henion, owner/president of StageSound, bought the long-vacant, 80,000-square-foot Kroger warehouse and turned about 7,500 square feet into space for more than a dozen offices. The company added a showroom, workshops, a fabrication shop and conference room. The remaining area is an open warehouse with new lighting and a new concrete floor. The sound reinforcement firm, started in 1978, employs 32 people in sales, event and production support. The company remodeled the interior and added a façade. The project is an example of continuing the tradition of industries located along Shenandoah Avenue.
Mill Mountain Coffee and Tea moved across the street to 117 Campbell Ave. to
renovate a declining building in a tax credit project. David Johnson, the owner, also has rehabilitated his Salem coffee shop with tax credits. The Campbell Avenue project was difficult because of its poor condition and its hand-crafted construction. Every roof rafter was different, he said. Much of the roof and part of its structure had to be replaced, the original tin ceiling was replicated and windows were replaced with a tempered material. Without Johnson’s timely investment in the Market Historic District, the district might very well have one less historic building, given its condition.
Antique Blue has opened at 112 E. Campbell Ave., in the former location of
Southern Pawn Shop by Mickey and Nancy Nelson, their daughter, Hunter Dominick, and her husband, Bayard Dominick. The family renovated the 1905, two-story brick building by restoring the façade and retaining the tin ceiling. Original windows were reworked. The building features a strong cornice line with heavy brackets, rising parapet and triple arched windows. Mickey Nelson is moving his interior design business to the second floor and Nancy Nelson will run the antique shop. This project is notable for bringing new and diversified business to the Market District.
The recently published Roanoke Residential Pattern Book is a 177-page publication developed to inform homeowners, builders, developers and design professionals about the city’s unique historic neighborhoods and to encourage renovation of existing housing and appropriately designed new construction. Working in partnership with the City, a Hill Studio team consulted a number of groups to produce a design tool for use by diverse interests. Among the topics are descriptions and illustrations of neighborhoods and architectural patterns, maintenance guide, guidelines for new construction, additions, landscaping and security measures and green building trends.
Blue Ridge Behavioral Healthcare built a 40-bed treatment center and renovated the 19th century Fellers House on Hollins Road. The house, once placed on the Foundation’s Endangered Sites list, had an extensive renovation—new roof, painting, porch and foundation stabilization and new plumbing, heating and electrical systems. The house is to be used for meeting rooms. The state mental health unit has occupied the building for many years. The recovery center for mental illness moved from 801 Shenandoah Ave., NW. Along with the Burrell Center (formerly the Burrell Memorial Hospital) and the Center at 836 Campbell Avenue, the Fellers House is another example of Blue Ridge Behavioral Healthcare’s commitment to preserving historic properties in the City.
Ron Crawford, a retired architect, is commended for his environmental stewardship in creating and leading the Read Mountain Alliance, a volunteer organization seeking conservation easements to preserve the top of Read Mountain, extending from Roanoke County into Botetourt County. As a result of his grass roots leadership, volunteers built a popular path up Read Mountain from a trailhead to a viewpoint on top of the mountain, now part of Roanoke County Parks system.. Crawford, a Virginia Tech graduate, had hiked the mountain as a boy from his Northwest Roanoke home. He and his wife, Betty, later moved into a home he designed on the northeast flank of the mountain.
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