ARCHITECTURE
The City of Davis is working to preserve its historic district , such as the Dresbach-Hunt-Boyer house , built in the 1870s .
for its restoration , improved amenities and sustainable upgrades . “ We took a lot of care on this project to get the historic elements right ,” Gaudreau says .
Gaudreau also just finished working on a complete refresh of the 1924 Hotel Senator building on the corner of 11th and L streets . The landmark city structure has 10 stories of office space . The complete exterior improvements included restoration work on the existing 520 wood-framed windows , adding new weatherstripping and paint finishes to provide better operation and better weather resistance . The owner , Seagate Properties , says since the rehabilitation , the building has a 97 percent lease rate , attributing it directly to the improvements . “ The client told us the tenants really love the improvements and those have definitely helped them increase their leases within the building ; they also said the tenants consider the historic aspect of the building an amenity ,” Gaudreau says . The Hotel Senator building was formerly the Senator Hotel , which served as a hub for the legislative community . It still houses a number of lobbyists and those desiring close proximity to the state capitol .
REUSING THE ENVIRONMENT
Matt Piner , owner of PinerWorks Architecture & Building Group , believes it ’ s much better for the environment for a historic resource to be rehabbed . “ All of the trees have already been chopped down , all of the labor expended and the carbon produced . It ’ s already been built ,” he says . “ If you tear a historic building down , you lose all that .”
Piner got his contractor ’ s license and started his own business in 1990 ; his architect ’ s license followed in 1992 . He began to rehab historic buildings , including his own 1903 foursquare home in Midtown near Sutter ’ s Fort .
“ In terms of preservation , the notion that the greenest building is the one that ’ s already there is a big kind of credo of why preservation matters in today ’ s world and why it matters for climate change ,’’ Piner says . “ Sometimes we can ’ t save a building , but it doesn ’ t mean we should reduce it to rubble and haul it away in a dump truck .”
Piner also started doing some remodel work and second-story additions . He branched out into backyard cottages and accessory dwelling units , or ADUs . Then in 2009 , after giving a presentation on regional and climate appropriate design
44 comstocksmag . com | June 2022