Reconstruction Awards: The Gallery at the Three Arts Club

The Three Arts Club, a 1914 Holabird & Roche building, was once used as a home and club for women involved in music, painting, and drama. A recent repurposing added new spaces and restored historically significant details to convert the 65,000-sf building into  Restoration Hardware’s Chicago Gallery. On the exterior, masonry and terra cotta were revitalized, and ugly fire escapes on the south façade were removed.

Two new spaces were added: a two-story atrium, used as a public dining area; and a rooftop space consisting of additional rooms and open air terraces used to display indoor-outdoor merchandise.

The existing basement proved too small for Restoration Hardware’s needs. To enlarge the basement below the original courtyard, the contractor, Pepper Construction, secured an excavator that could squeeze into the 45x45-foot space and crane-lifted it into place without hitting the building. Three weeks of excavation later and the site was big enough to serve as a functional basement. 

PROJECT SUMMARY 

Silver Award Winner | Chicago, Ill.

Building Team: Pepper Construction Company (submitting firm, GC); Restoration Hardware (owner); Booth Hansen Architecture (architect); Forefront Structural Engineers Inc. (SE); Block Electric Company (electrical engineer); Norman Mechanical Inc. (plumbing engineer).

Details: 65,000 sf. Construction time: August 2014 to September 2015. Delivery method: CM at risk.