Architect and Builder Win Historic Restoration Award

Words: Bronzella Cleveland

Summer 2009
Industry News

Architect and Builder Win Historic Restoration Award

Masonry Design Magazine

The Preservation Society of Asheville and Buncombe County in North Carolina has named architecture firm Bowers, Ellis & Watson and builder Doug Hill of Goforth Builders, Inc., as the 2009 recipient of the prestigious Griffin Award. They received the award for their renovation work on the historic Fernihurst House on the campus of Asheville-Buncombe Technical College.

The project won the Griffin Award in the category of “Adaptive Reuse and Rehabilitation” for Goforth Builders and Bowers, Ellis & Watson architects.

“Built in 1875, this is the second oldest brick structure in western North Carolina,” said Hill, vice president at Goforth Builders. “One of our challenges was to gain approval of the products we believed would best support the home’s design from the architects, college and historical review board. When it came to millwork, we opted for long-lasting synthetic products on the interior and exterior.

Completed in May of 2008, the renovated Fernihurst House now houses a first-floor classical-dining restaurant, allowing students to train for hospitality industry careers. The second floor of the building is home to conferences rooms and the Asheville-Buncombe Tech Foundation offices.

One of three historic homes on the campus, the Fernihurst House boasts 108 large Fypon cornice blocks on the exterior along with urethane casing, base cap moulding, flat trim and dentil mouldings. Large cove moulding from Fypon decorates rooms on the second floor.

“Fypon products were ideal for this project,” says Hill. “They met the specifications for the job in terms of product performance, strength and density. They had moulding profiles that were the best match for the original millwork and they were able to reproduce the shutters at a great price.” MD

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