The Depot in downtown Dalton had an open house earlier this week to celebrate the successful renovation of the southern half of the building. It hasn’t been a train depot in a long time, but it was an important fixture in our downtown before it was the condemned building that featured graffiti and broken windows that it’s been for the last decade.
Before & After
Before & After
The revitalization effort was a long and slow process that started long before we got involved in the summer of 2023. Our main goals during the design stage were to honor the historic architectural details that were still existing and to honor the vision that was presented to us from the building owner and the future tenant. We drew a simple plan that removed the 1970s addition on the back of the building to restore the trackside platform that was there originally, and added a sleek conference room design in the center of the open space. Our first moodboards leaned heavily into color palettes and materials that were appropriate for the time period that the train depot was built in.
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When construction finally started, the process got even slower and a whole lot messier. Improving the rainwater and groundwater management alone took two months and a lot of days in a crawlspace you aren’t meant to spend that much time in. The brick was soft and crumbling, and the mortar was almost gone in a lot of areas. Some door headers had failed causing the brick above to collapse. The floor joists were spanning too far without proper support, which made the floor wavy and the fancy new conference room doors a real puzzle to install. There were a lot of surprises encountered during demolition regarding the construction methods of the 1800s. The whole project was a great reminder that I do prefer being the designer over being the contractor.
Before & After
Before & After
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We are lucky to have places with such a rich history in the heart of our community, and I am inspired by the beautiful architectural details that were preserved and highlighted during the process. To name a few, Easton Ridley, the contractor, did an incredible job reproducing a few of the massive exterior corbels that were missing. David Aft, President of the Community Foundation and building tenant, had the beautiful idea during construction to install glass panels in a few of the door ways so you could see the multi-wythe thick structural brick construction. Liz Caperton, building owner, added a brass inlay to the tile in the bathroom vestibule that shows when the building was originally built.
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The floors were refinished and the old scale remains in place. From the initial vision that was presented to us, to finally photographing the finished space, we were honored to help guide the transformation of a dingy bar into the modern office and community meeting space it is today. You should stop by sometime and see it for yourself or watch this video for a deep dive on the project!
