Judges' Comments
- N/A
Project Data:
Completion Date: 1/3/2017
Square Footage: 1432
Building Use: Mixed-Use Residential
Location: Danville, CA
Project Description:
Rehabilitation of what has been the centerpiece of the historic downtown since the 1890s
The two-story hotel and the adjacent home of the family who operated the hotel, have been fixtures in the development of the town and have enjoyed a long and colorful life. The Folk-Victorian ten-room hotel with one bath thrived with the 1891 arrival of the railroad when the Eastlake-style depot was built across the street. Danville became a vacation spot for San Franciscans. By the 1930s, the hotel no longer offered guest accommodations and became a destination restaurant. In 1952, Russel Glenn bought the property and was inspired by the opening of Disneyland in 1955 to develop a very popular Disney-like Western town in the backyard of the hotel. Between 1955 and 1965 he added an extensive complex of faux Old West structures including a large two-story addition to the hotel. In 1968 a new freeway was built so traffic no longer went past the project and it began a slow death. A later owner would sell off all the historic Western artifacts.
When we began, the later additions were in bad shape, literally falling apart. The redevelopment of the site called for the removal of all of the non-historic structures (which exposed a huge scar on the hotel where the addition had been built), and the design of new mixed use buildings of 9500 SF of shops and 14 residential units with enclosed parking, designed to the scale of the downtown.
After extensive historic research with the Town Planner, meetings with the town's Historic Society and the curator of the Museum of the San Ramon Valley, we went through historic photos and memorabilia collected over the years, even determining when the building was repainted from white to red. While there have been many alterations over the years, if the alterations are over 50 years old, they can be considered historic as well. Careful documentation of historic features such as window details was made.
Once the additions were removed, we found several interesting details. We were able to ascertain where windows might have been on the missing west elevation (the scar), we found the remnants of a brick chimney, a major support beam that had only about 1/2" of bearing, and much of the original brick foundation had disintegrated to nothing. A broken sewer pipe (for how long?) left a cesspool in the crawl space. To remedy the structural deficiencies, the entire hotel building was lifted and a new foundation was built. New wood siding, milled to match the historic materials, was applied to the scar and other deteriorated parts of the building, particularly the house that had been plastered over at some point. Modern attachments were removed and the buildings were restored to their circa 1952 appearance. The rehabilitation of the historic structures now includes a restaurant, two apartments on the second floor, and a shop within the house. The new additions return the street edge to its historic form with the removal of the old West village. Together, the project has healed a hole in the heart of the Town and has been recognized with the Town's 2017 Outstanding Heritage Resource Design Award.
C.O.T.E. | Committee on the Environment
Submitted By: |
Allie Martin |
Design Architect: |
Rick Aiken and Mohsen Heidari |
Associate Architect or Firm: |
WHA |
Landscape Architect: |
David Gates & Associates |
Owner / Developer: |
Castle Companies |
Engineer: |
Civil: Carlson, Barbee & Gibson, Inc. Structural: Hoogerwerf Engineering Group, Inc. Mechanical, Electrical & Plumbing Engineer |
General Contractor: |
David Gates & Associates |
Consultant: |
|
Photographer: |
Anthony Gomez |
Danville Hotel Towncenter
Category
Residential Planned Development