Title: The Old Newberry Hotel
Location of Proejct: Newberry, South Carolina
Project Completion Date: 10/01/2019
Firm Name: Architrave LLC.

Short Description: The Old Newberry Hotel has stood as an icon at the heart of Newberry, SC since 1877. Unfortunately, much of the building was an abandoned shell. The challenge was to give it purpose, creating street level retail under apartments an event venue, apartments, offices, and artist studios. The design prioritized preserving historic fabric while blending new and old materials. The scope of the project focused on the interior and the Caldwell Street façade. The project added a large balcony on Caldwell, combined three rooms with 21’ wide openings and added three staircases to dramatically improve the icon’s function and use.

Architect's Statement: Newberry centers on a public square and by 1801 a courthouse was built in the square and the town began to develop around it. The town flourished between 1850 and 1900 as a major stop on the rail route from Columbia to Greenville and in 1877 when a series of buildings across from the square were consumed by fire the site was redeveloped into the Newberry Hotel.. The hotel was built in the Romanesque Revival style with an iconic three-story corner tower facing the square.

The hotel remained at the visual core of Newberry’s urban fabric for the next 140 years and was one of fifteen named buildings contributing to the Newberry historic district. The building’s interior had fallen into disrepair but it still served as an icon for the city finding its way onto billboards and brochures. Apart from five retail spaces fronting Main Street most of the 25,000 square foot building was derelict and unoccupied when it was purchased by a visionary local couple. They worked with their architect to develop a program that would balance the preservation of the building while creating a revenue stream to fund the building’s operation and maintenance. The settled program included apartments, an event venue, offices, and retail. Additionally, the project would continue to provide a home to the Newberry Arts Center and would offer studio and gallery spaces for local artists.

Much of the exterior retained original materials and told the story of the building’s evolution. A careful look at the construction showed that the 1877 project that created the hotel incorporated foundations and masonry bearing walls that survived the fire and worked them into the design. Research uncovered a postcard from the early 1900’s which showed a series of arches along Main and Caldwell Streets and a balcony covering the sidewalk on Caldwell Street. In the early 20th century Main Street was a popular shopping district and wide openings with deeply recessed store fronts were cut to entice shoppers off the sidewalk. Indications are that the Caldwell Street balcony was originally built of wood and had wood posts that supported it on the street edge. The balcony itself had been removed more than seventy years ago but the balcony roof and brackets remained. Creating a new balcony to complete the facade and to identify the venue entrance on Caldwell Street became a priority. Because the supporting columns would no longer be allowed in the right of way the design cantilevers the new balcony over the sidewalk.

The building has an alley that became a natural design separation, the section fronting Main Street would house apartments over the retail and the remainder that fronted on Caldwell Street would be home to the venue, offices and artist studios. Vertical circulation was a challenge since only one original stair remained. Evidence of a back stair that had previously been removed was uncovered and a new code compliant stair was inserted. At the hinge point where the alley separated the two building masses a second stair was created to provide egress from both the apartments and venue to Caldwell Street. A third grand stair was inserted near the one remaining original stair to connect the first and second floors of the venue and serve as a focal point within the building.

Almost every door, wood floor slat, wood stud, and plaster molding were preserved, relocated, or restored. Most of the original hotel rooms were over the Main Street retail and the architects modified a series of two existing hotel rooms to create eight one-bedroom and one two-bedroom apartment. This allowed heart pine floors to be refinished and exterior walls to retain their mottled plaster and original window trim. Extra hall doors and transoms were repurposed as bedroom doors within each unit and existing skylights were reopened. New materials were selected to blend with the original material pallet without distracting from the original features.

A venue space was created by combining the three retail spaces fronting Caldwell Street with a new entrance underneath the new canopy. The plaster moldings found in these spaces were preserved and restored. Since the 1877 building was built around several buildings, the walls separating these rooms were solid masonry. Twenty-one-foot openings were cut in each wall with oak clad folding partitions allowing the three rooms to become one or be divided into smaller spaces when needed. The center room featured a large atrium opening connecting the two levels. Above this atrium, skylights were installed above the original glass ceiling which was refinished creating a light source for both levels. Surrounding the atrium, the existing rooms were repaired and developed as artist studios, offices, and a green room for brides. Additionally, a short-term rental apartment was created in this area that could be offered with venue rentals or for visiting artists.