Extreme Makeover: Historic Preservation Edition
Cornerstones, Inc and UTC Partnership breathe life into St. George Hotel
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. April, 18, 2011 --Cornerstones, Inc. partnered with UTC to create a new historic preservation course, which gave students the opportunity to create a vision for the abandoned St. George Hotel on Market Street. The students’ work will be on public display during May at GreenSpaces.
 The College of Health, Education & Professional Studies, Interior Design Department offered the course for the first time spring semester 2011. The class instructor is Dana Moody, Head of the Interior Design Department, and the class consists of junior and senior students. Local professionals worked with the student teams. With Cornerstones’ assistance and coordination, each team was assigned an architect and interior designer. These local professionals volunteered their time and expertise to show the students how to use downtown Chattanooga as their classroom.
Terry Barker, River Street Architecture; Eric Myers, Elemi Architects; Brian Locke, Artech Design Group and Craig Kronenberg, Hefferlin & Kronenberg Architects were the participating architects. The professional interior designers were: Mark Draper, Franklin & Associates; Jane Grant, Jane Grant Designs; Donna Ledbetter, Rardin & Carroll Architects; and Anj McLain, GreenSpaces.
The St. George Hotel, the No. 1 property on Cornerstones’ Endangered Properties List, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Market and Main Street National Register Historic District.
“We really appreciated the cooperation of the property owners to allow students to actually experience a property’s before renovation condition,” said Ann Gray, Executive Director of Cornerstones, Inc.
 To say this was a very challenging property is an understatement. The building is vacant, derelict and abandoned and has obvious structural issues. Gray pointed out that oftentimes a deteriorated building can offer an opportunity for a more economic viable and dynamic solution, as was the case with The Terminal Brewhouse, located immediately across the street.
“Just a few years ago, it was in worse condition than the St. George Hotel is now. The Terminal had completely lost its roof and all the floors. It was the debris itself that was holding the exterior walls together” said Gray.
While historic preservation is preserving historic architecture, it is also saving a building to be reused and in an interesting way to add to a great neighborhood vibe.
“It is the context of the structure within a neighborhood that interplay of form and function on both the interior and exterior that is essential to a thriving community,” concluded Gray.
There will be a student exhibit, awards and reception held at the Chattanooga Choo Choo Roosevelt Room on Monday, May 2, 2011 5-6:30 pm. The student’s work will then be moved to GreenSpaces on Main Street to be on public display for the month of May which is National Historic Preservation month.
About Cornerstones, Inc.
Cornerstones, Inc. is a non-profit membership-based organization. It is also a Local Community Partner with the National Trust for Historic Preservation. If you would like more information about their mission of saving Chattanooga’s architectural heritage and urban fabric, please visit HYPERLINK "http://www.cornerstonesinc.org" www.cornerstonesinc.org.
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