Preservation Massachusetts honored the historic Coddington Building with the prestigious Paul E. Tsongas Award at the Annual Preservation Awards Dinner held May 6 at the Fairmont Copley Plaza in a ceremony celebrating the culmination of many years of hard work, investment, vision and collaboration for the completed and restored historic buildings of the Commonwealth. Wessling Architects was responsible for the restoration and adaptive re-use of the building, which was transformed from academic uses into administrative and IT offices for the city of Quincy - which began occupying the space in late 2014.
Originally constructed in 1909, the Coddington Building was designed by Charles Brigham, architect for the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and the building had served as an educational facility from grade school to college throughout the years before the restoration process began in the summer of 2013. Coddington had also been added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989 by the National Park Service.
Following a complete interior renovation, the newly restored 40,000 s/f of office space is now home to the city school department, administrative offices, city and school Information Technology (IT) departments, city printing department and a new meeting space for the public. The project also included the restoration of the building's exterior to its original condition, including a new slate roof, copper gutters, new galvanized metal fascia, soffit and dentils to match the original design, and new energy efficient aluminum windows. In addition, the property was upgraded with new utility services, landscaping, site paving and exterior lighting improvements.
"The Coddington Building is an outstanding adaptive re-use of a historically significant building," said Stephen Wessling, CEO of Wessling Architects, which provided historic preservation, building envelope restoration and interior design services for the project. "The original design lent itself well to office use while we were able to preserve the architectural beauty of the original structure for future generations, and we are honored to see our work on the revitalization of this historic structure recognized by Preservation Massachusetts."
Wessling Architects is an award-winning full service architectural firm with a broad level of experience and a long track record of success in architecture, building restoration, interior design and professional services. Wessling Architects is registered in 15 states with a client base of more than 300 world-wide.
Founded in 1985, Preservation Massachusetts is the statewide non-profit historic preservation organization dedicated to actively promoting the preservation of historic buildings and landscapes as a positive force for economic development, tourism and the retention of community character.