I honestly don't think that we could have gone to a more magnificent building. Not only did they want to preserve it but also reuse some of it's features that are still there today.
To the right is a picture of the 300 year old Alpine Timber wooden beams that are basically the frame of the building. As you keep looking at more of the photos, the wooden beams can be seen everywhere throughout the building. The Iron Horse Hotel is one of the last wooden framed buildings left in Milwaukee. The Chicago Style building definitely holds its success through aesthetics: it's structurally simple, besides wood the next thing is steel, and they saved materials from other buildings to add to the feel of the hotel.
Being able to touch the beams and see other original elements through the building is simply amazing to me. Not only do the elements tie the feel and look of the hotel all together but it definitely shows character.
Nice picture with thew hallway, I love how the wooden pillars of the building jut out of the floor into the space. There was even an interesting story on the zebra print carpet. Its a great example of preservation!
ReplyDeleteI agree about the picture - that was my second choice that I was going to feature for the blog. Looking at those timber beams makes me think of looking at a skeleton. It is as if the core of the building, the core of the history, is still there. This analogy in and of itself further proves to me that the Iron Horse hotel has made an excellent example of adaptive reuse. When we see these old materials restored, it is almost as if we can go back in time, experience history.
ReplyDeleteI think that the wood beams are stunning and really lend themselves to this building. As you note they are throughout the structure. I think it would be interesting to see what the building code states about this type of structure and what the Iron Horse Hotel had to do in terms of Sprinkler systems to allow this type of use with the exposed wood beams.
ReplyDelete