800 Magazine Street
Renovation and facade restoration of a severely modified historic building for residential and retail use.
Category
Commercial
Living
Adaptive Reuse + Modernization
Size 5,000 SF
Location New Orleans, LA
Year 2013
Located on a bustling corner in New Orleans’ Warehouse District, 800 Magazine was originally a livery and funeral home in the 1840s. Prior to redevelopment, it was home to the American Coffee Company’s roasting facility.
Over the years, the structure underwent significant architectural and structural changes. Most of its ornate stucco and brick work was removed, its prominent covered gallery was lost, and it gained an unsightly third floor. The original stable openings on the ground floor were infilled and the building suffered extensive settlement and termite damage. The program involved restoring the exterior of the building back to its 1880’s condition while developing the interior as a modern multi-use and residential building.
This renovation, including the ground floor tenant spaces, qualified and received Federal and State Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits.
Outcome
The design revitalizes 800 Magazine by merging historic preservation with modern amenities, restoring the building’s 1880s character and creating high-quality adaptive-use spaces. This project enhances New Orleans’ architectural heritage while providing a commercially viable space, featuring the renowned Peche Seafood Grill on the ground floor and modern apartments above. Careful integration of historic materials and original details reinforces brand authenticity, attracting tenants and visitors to the space. The revitalization enriches the Warehouse District’s cultural landscape, fostering street-level engagement through vibrant retail and thoughtfully designed residential entries. Utilizing Federal and State Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits supports preservation efforts and ensures financial feasibility. Exposed original materials and sustainable practices enhance the building's long-term stability and beauty. This project serves as a model for balancing historic preservation with modern functionality, bringing new energy and respect for the past to a prominent corner of the neighborhood.
Research produced only a single image found in a Chamber of Commerce publication from the early 1900s that showed the building as it once stood. Based on this image, designers used the known existing heights to create a scale to determine the heights of the original historic components.
Significant structural work included shoring, leveling of the upper floors, and replacement of damaged structural members. New foundations were installed under all interior columns. The exterior façade was reconstructed using masonry construction, sans styfrofoam moulding, just as the building was originally built. Extensive masonry repairs and tuck-pointing were performed on the underlying brick structure, and then re-stuccoed using a conventional cement stucco system.
Original openings had been filled in with a variety of different style openings or simply closed in completely. These openings were restored to their original configurations with contemporary plate glass infill and shutters. Remaining historic millwork was restored.
The third-floor facade was demolished at each street front. This deductive process created roof terraces for five of the nine apartments. The terraces were created by pushing the third-floor facade back one structural bay. A concrete deck was created prior to demolishing the exterior.
In the apartments, designers utilized minimal detailing to allow the historic structure to preside. Exterior brick, terracotta walls, original ceiling joists, beams, and columns were left exposed while newly replaced windows mimic the original-steel warehouse windows. Salvaged materials from the building itself such as the wood flooring, stair treads, and decorative wood and steel elements were incorporated. The original 17-foot ceiling of the historic embalming room was carefully restored to create a two-story loft. The design allows the entire ceiling to be viewed from any vantage point.
The ground floor is home to Peche, an award-winning seafood grill owned by the Link Restaurant Group and inspired by South American, Spanish, and Gulf Coast cooking traditions. Towering Cypress doors open into the bar under the intricately reconstructed Italianate Gallery. The dining room and finishes highlight the warehouse’s rough timber construction. The reclaimed heart pine ceiling is a complex suspended acoustic ceiling that isolates restaurant noise from the residential units above.
The property had an underutilized alley along the backside that was adopted to create a landscaped entry sequence from the street for the apartments at the 2nd and 3rd floors. The design allows for maximum street frontage for retail uses while creating a unique entry for the apartment building. A canopy extends out over the sidewalk from the framed structure and wood beams create the feeling of a ceiling for the space reducing the vertical feeling between the two buildings.
Awards
AIA New OrleansHonorable Mention, 2017
AIA LouisianaAward of Merit, 2017
AIA Gulf States RegionHonor Award, 2017
Associated Builders & ContractorsExcellence in Construction Award, 2014
Louisiana Landmarks SocietyExcellence in Historic Preservation, 2014