Public Spaces
Nashville’s Frist Art Museum Was Once its Post Office
Located in downtown Nashville, TN, the Frist Art Museum has served as the city’s premier art gallery since opening in 2001. But the building in which it operates dates back to the Great Depression era. More specifically, the building at 901 Broadway was constructed toward the end of the Depression......
Richard H. Chambers Courthouse in Pasadena Was Once a Hotel, Offices, and Even a Hospital
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......
Ponce City Market in Atlanta Makes Lively Use of Old Sears Building
While the company has fallen on hard times in recent years, there was once a time when Sears was a retail giant. In the early 1900s, Sears, Roebuck, & Co., as it was then known, was in the midst of rapid growth fueled by its popular catalogs that allowed it......
This Old Brewery Complex is Now the San Antonio Museum of Art
Though it’s served as the home of San Antonio Museum of Art for nearly thirty years, the complex of buildings at 200 W. Jones Avenue in downtown San Antonio, TX, has a history dating back much further. The complex was originally constructed between 1895 and 1904 to house the operations......
This Funky Florida Library Now Serves as Nonprofit Startup Incubation Hub
For several decades, the distinctive Jessie Ball duPont Center building in downtown Jacksonville, FL, served as the city’s main public library. The building was commissioned in 1960 to replace the existing downtown library. Architect Taylor Hardwick created a unique design aimed at brightening up the monotonous downtown environment. His mid-century......
The New York High Line: A Different Kind of Adaptive Reuse Project
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involve a building of some sort, some of the most innovative examples of adaptive reuse in America instead focus on outdated or unused infrastructure.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 that......
A Ritzy ’80s Florida Mall Flamed Out – Until It Went to Community College
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, the mall was......
Denver Union Station Became the Mixed-Use Front Door to a Massive Transit Hub
Now a mixed-use center of activity in Denver’s LoDo district, the Denver Union Station building has a history dating back to 1881. That’s when Denver Union Station was first built at 1701 Wynkoop Street, although it looked quite a bit different than it does today. The original Italian Romanesque-style building......
Jacksonville’s Beautiful St. James Building is Now Its City Hall
The St. James Building, located at 117 W. Duval Street in downtown Jacksonville, is one of the country’s most beautiful city halls. But the building has a much longer history than its relatively short stint as the center of Jacksonville’s city government. The building sits on a site once occupied......
TWA Hotel at JFK Airport Repurposes Iconic ‘60s Terminal
Guests who stay at the TWA Hotel in Queens, New York, are treated to quite a blast from the past. The 512-room hotel, located at JFK International Airport, was built around the existing TWA Flight Center which once served as the airport terminal for Trans World Airlines and had sat......