The Grand Canyon National Park Service has made a commitment to enhance the experience of visitors beyond views of the canyon itself. The built landscape at the North and South Rims include buildings and lookout points within the bounds of the Grand Canyon Village Historic District. Many of these buildings were designed by notable American architects, including the Desert View Watchtower and Lookout Studio, both designed by Mary Jane Colter in 1914; and the North Rim Cabins, designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood in 1928.

The rehabilitation of the newly branded Market Square, San Francisco’s former Merchandise Mart, reintroduced an Art Deco-style terracotta building to a struggling part of town as a centerpiece around which to rally. The exterior rehabilitation, complete with its replacement windows, façade rehabilitation, marquee canopy restoration, and its new tenant, Twitter, Inc., have brought new life to the Mid-Market area of San Francisco. The project has been highlighted as an “Urban Game Changer,” one symbolic of the relationship between today’s urban renewal and the power of preservation.

The Antelope Valley Indian Museum is rare and significant architecturally, historically, and culturally. The rambling building resembles a Bavarian chalet and exhibits an indirect influence from the Craftsman period in its unusual construction methods and highly artistic detailing and finishes. California State Parks acquired the building and collection in the late 1970s. Its rehabilitation required attention to vulnerable finishes and vernacular assemblies. Native stone, Joshua Tree structural columns, and hand painted panels were accounted for in the design with sensitive investigations and stabilizing measures for the harsh and variable desert climate.

The rehabilitation of the stately, 19^th-century Carson Block Building included a seismic retrofit and restoration of several exterior features.  The project revived one of Eureka’s first commercial buildings and reignited a communal pride in the city’s National Register-listed Historic District. The 50,000 square-foot building was built mostly of redwood with terra cotta panels, brick arches, cast iron columns, and a tall redwood storefront. Boasting Richardson Romanesque features, a style indicative of east coast refinement, the building was initially a stark contrast to structures that populated Eureka, then still a frontier town. The Carson Block Building also contained the luxurious, 1,400-seat Ingomar Theater, one of the first in the region.

The deteriorated ornamental metal on the 130 Sutter Street façade was of prime concern at the Hallidie Building, which features the first high-rise glass curtain wall assembly in the United States. Deferred maintenance had taken its toll on the façade, and several components were deteriorating, causing water and air leakage, thermal variation on the interior, and an unusable means of fire egress. With the rehabilitation, repairs were made to maximize retention of the historic fabric. This landmark was made new again, including its original blue and gold color scheme, initially selected for its building’s patron, the University of California, Berkeley.

Concern for the fabric of the busy Sacramento Valley Station Depot was paramount throughout its rehabilitation. This intermodal transport facility had several updates and related reviews, culminating in a fully rehabilitated facility in 2015. An initial salvage and finish plan identified the historic mural and large, textured amber glass windows as important assets to be preserved during the work. Paint specialists investigated mural cleaning options. Custom amber glass was fabricated to recreate broken panes, bolstering the glowing effect of diffused light into the main historic waiting room.

Offering views of the Golden Gate Bridge and the Marin Headlands, the Walt Disney Family Museum marks the largest and most historically significant rehabilitation to date in the Presidio, a former military post. The adaptive reuse of the site and three existing buildings into a state of the art museum includes permanent and temporary exhibit galleries, a children’s learning center, a public theatre, café, offices, and archival storage. The interactive nature of the museum, along with requirements for durable, attractive and sustainable finishes, triggered innovative strategies for reuse. Intricate infrastructure was provided to the exhibit areas, without compromising the character of the masonry and wood-framed spaces of the historic barrack.