Perils of historicism
Today at Design Review Committee the developer of a new hotel on the west side of 20th Street South a half block south of the fountain in the historic Five Points South neighborhood presented a revised exterior scheme. We last saw this proposal over a year ago; since then the exterior has traded its “bland suburban” character for something more attuned to the Art Deco surroundings of the area (above). However, the proposal was denied, and the applicant asked to return to a special subcommittee that would work with him further.
Part of the issue is that the new structure sits on an historic base–a former music club and, previously, a Piggly Wiggly grocery store–and that base is unsuccessfully integrated with the new facade above. While the new facade is certainly an improvement over the earlier design, the devil is in the details (and no true details have been presented yet). If all those vertical bits and chamfers will be formed out of synthetic stucco, we may be end up with poorly-executed historicism. We’ll have to see how this one progresses.
Hip not
Also denied was a revised Pepsi advertisement (above), designed to wrap around the electronic message board at Two North Twentieth, the former Bank for Savings building at Morris Avenue and 20th Street North. The Committee found this new design still too inartistic and commercial to warrant such a huge, full-color, singular statement on the City skyline. A frustrated building representative may consider appealing this ruling. This City was built on commerce, and the old electric sign is grandfathered. But the Committee is clearly drawing a very firm line here.
[thanks to Rakesh Patel for the hotel sketch, and Harbert Realty for the banner]
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