Façade Restoration Program

Five Years of Perspective (2008-2012)

The Jamestown Renaissance Corporation's Façade Restoration Program is an ongoing initiative. Projects will be selected on a year-to-year basis. Priority will be given to buildings where significant development is underway by building and/or business owners.

The program was launched in 2008. Its original focus was on maintaining architectural and historical significance on 16 targeted downtown buildings while also improving the downtown's overall character and ambiance.

Each of the 16 buildings was chosen through a collaborative effort by a team of four local architecture firms whose main goal was to identify key historically important and architecturally significant buildings that once restored would collectively improve the overall charm of downtown. The four firms – Architecture Group, Habiterra Architecture & Landscape Architecture, P.C., Harrington Sandberg Architecture and Engineering, P.C. and R.W. Larson Associates, P.C. – worked together to identify the buildings. They then created drawings that reintroduced the original façade of the buildings.

In the first year, nine of the 16 targeted façade projects – all within a two-block radius – were completed with the support of a grant from the Gebbie Foundation.

With the continued support of the Gebbie Foundation and through a partnership with the City of Jamestown, a five-building restoration at Thurston Terrace on East Fourth Street and a façade and wall project at 208-210 North Main Street were finished in 2009. Each of these projects was among the original 16.

In addition to the original program, the JRC partnered with the City of Jamestown to complete a façade restoration at the Swanson Building on East Third Street. The JRC also partnered with a building owner to finish a façade storefront project at the former Field and Wright Building on North Main Street.

Based on its past success, the JRC continued the Façade Restoration Program in 2010. The Gebbie Foundation again supported the program, and the JRC also continued to partner with the City of Jamestown and local architects. A three-building stretch housing Geraci and Co. Accountants, Gifts from the Forest, LANtecs and Design Technology were completed. Additionally, a four-building on North Main Street – C.B. Westrom and Co., Lisciandro's, The Pub and GG, My Love – is finished. Finally, a building on the east corner of North Main Street and Fourth Street, Mojo's on East Second Street, a second storefront at the former Field & Wright building on North Main Street and a façade restoration and side wall project at 318 North Main Street were completed.

The Façade Restoration Program was scaled down in 2011. Three projects were completed. The former Jones Bakery Building at 209 Pine Street, now occupied by Suburban Blend, was on the original list of 16 buildings identified in 2008. Projects at 215 Spring Street and 104 West Second Street were also being completed.

To date, two projects have been completed in 2012. The Fourth & Pine Professional Building was painted, had its awnings repaired and signage replaced this summer. Meanwhile, Summit Wealth Management--on West Third Street--underwent a complete facade restoration. Its next door neighbor, Panache Salon, is currently completing a full restoration.