Category Archives: Architecture
Gardner House Nears Completion with Open House Scheduled for September!
After five phases of construction, the Historic Gardner Homestead is nearing completion with a public reception scheduled for September. HDC initially completed an existing conditions assessment with a master plan for the future renovation. The initial construction phase involved demolishing the first floor restroom and installing a new HVAC system. The second phase consisted of reinforcing the attic and replacing the roof, gutters, and downspouts. The next phase involved exterior brick masonry restoration and repair of the historic wooden windows and replacing the modern vinyl windows. The fourth phase consisted of demolishing the rear porch and excavating the dirt from the south basement. The fifth and final phase involved the rehabilitation of the interior along with structural underpinning of the south basement.
Design highlights include exposing the old wood beams in the first floor ceiling by installing the drywall between the beams, refinishing the original wide plank wood floor in the northeast bedroom, and exposing existing chimney and bearing walls as an accent. Challenges included installing a structural beam in the Meeting Room ceiling to support floor joists that used to bear on a removed wall and meeting accessibility clearances in the small rooms on the first floor by using pocket doors.
The Reception Area before and after rehabilitation. New drywall was installed between the original ceiling beams to highlight them.
The Meeting Room before and after rehabilitation. The ceiling beam in the background replaces a structural wall that had been previously removed.
The second floor northeast room was originally a bedroom but is now office space. The original wide plank wood floor boards were refinished.
Beightler Armory Construction Complete!
Construction for the renovation of the lower level of the Beightler Armory in Columbus started in the summer of 2024 and was completed in 2025. Closeout stalled when the original Ohio National Guard project manager moved out of state but has since been completed in spring of 2026. The project involved removing several partition walls forming small offices and storage rooms to create larger classrooms, conference rooms, and open office space. The lower level also received all new floor, wall, and ceiling finishes, including new LED light fixtures.
L: Typical open workspace in lower level BEFORE renovation. R: Completed open office and work area.
Lower level corridor before and after renovation.
Tarlton Armory Construction to be Completed This Summer!
HDC is working with American Structurepoint (and taking the lead in construction administration) to rehabilitate the Ohio National Guard Armory building in Tarlton near Lancaster, Ohio. The building opened in 1968 and its design is attributed to George P. Guthrie, armory architect. Guthrie earned an architectural degree from The Ohio State University in 1927 and later served in World War II as a first lieutenant assigned to headquarters staff of the 136th Field Artillery. After the war, Guthrie was appointed an architect with the construction division of the Veterans Administration headquarters in Columbus and later served with the Adjutant Generals Department, where he worked on new armory buildings in the 1950s and 1960s serving as Chief of the Engineering Division when this building was designed.
The renovation’s exterior work includes membrane roof repairs, replacement of the windows, and repainting of the previously painted concrete block walls. Interior work includes expansion of the women’s restrooms into an adjacent space, removal of partition walls to create larger spaces, new lighting and HVAC, and new floor, wall, and ceiling finishes. The project is scheduled to be completed in September.
L: The female latrine in February after demolition started with the existing wall between two rooms removed. R: Female latrine in June with wall completed with porcelain tile and fixtures set.
L: Drill Hall in February after the National Guard moved out. R: Drill Hall in June with walls painted and ceiling painting in progress.
Advancing Preservation in Licking County
Hardlines partnered with the Licking County Historical Society in 2025 to bring new momentum to treasured Newark landmark, the Buckingham Meeting House. The 1835 building now houses the Society’s Library & Archives and serves as a banquet facility. HDC’s detailed cost estimate to guide improvements helped secure a $250,000 state grant. HDC is now serving as criteria architect, alongside Karpinski Engineering as the criteria MEP engineer, to prepare documents for a design-build team to be selected later this year.
Buckingham Meeting House during initial fieldwork in February 2025
HDC has a decades-long legacy of preservation work in Licking County. In the late 1990s, the firm helped save and transform the Davis-Shai House in Heath. HDC’s feasibility study for the relocated historic home helped secure a $500,000 state capital grant to rehabilitate the structure into a community center. HDC also supported the Licking County Historical Society with a Conservation Assessment Program (CAP) survey of the 1828 Sherwood Davidson House in Newark.
Left: Davis-Shai House after rehabilitation in 2000; Right: Sherwood Davidson House during fieldwork in 1998
In 1998-1999, HDC completed ADA improvements to a group home in Newark for the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities (now Ohio Department of Behavioral Health) and Newark Resident Homes. The project consisted of dividing a large room on the first floor into an accessible bedroom and bathroom along with adding a wheelchair ramp to the first floor. The original plan was for a simple ramp from the rear parking lot to a new door in the dining room bay window. The facilities manager did not like the idea of giving up the bay window and also noted that many residents were picked up at the front door, not the parking lot. HDC design a new ramp to a new deck at the front door with a seating area at the ramp landing.
New ramp and deck in 1999
Beyond historic buildings, HDC has completed archaeological surveys across Licking County, beginning with its first Ohio Department of Transportation cultural resources project in 1998. More recently, HDC prepared a feasibility study for the Robbins Hunter Museum, an 1842 historic home reflecting generations of local history and philanthropy. From preservation planning to accessibility and archaeology, HDC’s work in Licking County demonstrates a sustained commitment to honoring the past while building a stronger future.
Side entrance to the Robbins Hunter Museum with clock tower where a bust of Victoria Woodhull that appears on the balcony on the hour
Progress Continues at Northcoast Behavioral Health Dietary Building
The project recently expanded to include replacement of the existing restroom fixtures and partitions, which everyone thought would look very dated when seen next to the renovated office area around it. After demolition was completed in the kitchen areas, work started on framing the new office walls for the new office suite. This included updating the existing window wall while retaining the existing wheelchair ramp, which provides accessible entry to restrooms for workers in the maintenance building in the rear. Construction is anticipated to be completed in Fall 2026.
Left: Exterior windows and wall being updated. Right: Framing for new offices where the two windows are being updated.
All THAT Teen Center Construction Starts Up Again
After the roof replacement, construction at the All THAT Teen Center went on hold as discussions took place with the City building department on whether the project needed a site compliance plan review. Finally, the building department agreed that since there was an ownership change and not a use change (building was still leased by a church for Sunday services), a site compliance plan was not required. However, since the classrooms were used for after school activities and not Sunday school activities, the examiner required that each classroom have an individual smoke detector in addition to the fire alarm system and rated corridor doors already in the project. After the updated fire alarm plans were approved, construction could finally start on the last phase of the project, which is now scheduled to be completed in January 2026.
