PAREV RESTAURANT/TUESDAY CLUB

CHALLENGES:

A local developer sought to create a legacy project in a high end restaurant (called "pareve") and a club for businessmen and politicians (The Tuesday Club) within a half block of the State Capitol Building.  The selected site was in the historic district and contained three, three story 100+ year old row houses, having very little historical or aesthetic significance, many incongruous remodelings and poor maintenance. However, it was the view of the Harrisburg Architectural Review Board (HARB) that these were to be restored and preserved rather than replaced by a more contemporary structure.

SOLUTIONS:

HARB finally relented to the demolition once a structural engineer determined that the buildings were in danger of imminent collapse due to universal weakening of the masonry joints. They did require that the townhouses be precisely recreated, including reuse of some sandstone elements saved from the original buildings. Benefiting from the use of digital photography and painstaking archaeological measurement, the resulting building is often mistaken for a renovation rather than a completely new structure. The dormered third level is now the cathedral ceiling over the second floor grand banquet facility.

POSTSCRIPT:

In three years of operation that restaurant achieved a great reputation and numerous awards. However, it never achieved financial success and was shuttered shortly after the passing of the developer. Happily, though, employing the design services of FP+A, new management has resurrected the restaurant, now called "Haydn's on Pine," as a high end dining establishment and martini bar.