HARB approves façade alterations for 12 North Second Street hotel and restaurant project

The Columbia Bureau Historical Architectural Review Board voted Jan. 8 to approve façade alterations and restorations at 12 North Second Street, a mixed project that combines restoration of a historic corner ‘‘chip factory’’ building with a new hotel addition and planned restaurant space.

Why it matters: The project involves a locally significant historic façade, an infill hotel (described in materials as an 80-room Hilton), and new construction adjacent to preserved masonry buildings. The board focused on materials, window patterns, storefront treatment, and how the new work would maintain the historic streetscape scale.

The applicant team — represented by the firm principal and project architect John Cox and architect Tom Deaver — presented 3-D renderings, elevations, brick samples and enlarged details of replacement windows. The package described restoring/repointing the historic corner building (referred to repeatedly as the chip factory), replacing its windows with simulated double-hung profiles (a fixed simulated composition to give the look of double-hung windows), and replicating historical millwork seen in archival photos.

For the new hotel portion, the team said they would use a hospitality-line aluminum window for guest rooms, new brick to match the streetscape scale, vertical metal panels at the main entrance and painted steel railings on upper floors. Designers said they removed PTAC through-wall units from the first floor on Second Street following earlier board comments and intend to source brick locally and repoint and salvage bricks from other sections for repairs.

Board members praised the composition and scale, calling the proposed massing and the plan to break the new façade into smaller visual bays an effective way to preserve a ‘‘small-scale’’ streetscape feel. Several members asked for additional detail and refinement in three main areas: material/color selection (including a suggestion to consider oil-rubbed bronze rather than pure black for window and metal finishes), architectural gestures that reference local metalwork (lamp/bridge details), and softer treatment of the Locust Street-facing ADA ramp so the ramp appears less like a solid brick extrusion.

Designers responded with material notes: the main entrance would feature a vertical metal panel; other new sections would use new brick, aluminum windows, and painted steel railings. They showed a brick sample and said final color and finish selections would be determined with sample panels during construction.

The presentation included project context: the team said the original building was constructed in 1874, that the Hillier building nearby will be restored as part of the project, and that the hotel would be a Hilton-brand 80-room property. The applicants described site constraints, including a retaining wall and a stormwater subdrain basin behind the building to reconcile grade differences and to provide parking at the same level as the new ground floor.

Board members suggested specific heritage touches — such as placing existing date stones back into the ramp or adding a historic plaque — and asked the team to explore shadow lines or niche details in heavy brick expanses so the walls “invite” pedestrians rather than read as solid planes. The design team agreed to take the board’s suggestions into final design work. Representatives noted Hilton franchise requirements but said the franchise allowed flexibility for many of the façade decisions.

The board moved to approve the application after questions and discussion; the motion passed with all members present voting in favor.