AIA Connecticut Preservation Award and International Masonry Institute Golden Trowel Award

Built in the Queen Anne style in 1881 to house commercial retail spaces and luxury residences, the Goodwin Hotel in downtown Hartford is a distinctive architectural landmark on the National Register of Historic Places.  In the late 1980s, the building was transformed into a luxury hotel with 124 guestrooms, and accommodations for fine dining conferences.  By 2000, the facade of the Goodwin Hotel was in an advanced state of deterioration.  It was clear that the cosmetic repairs of the late 1980s had not adequately provided for the diagnosis and resolution of the causes of deterioration at the exterior of the structure.  Hoffmann Architects was engaged to evaluate the extent of the damage at the facades and roofs of the hotel, and subsequently, to prepare contract documents and provide bidding and construction administration services for a program of repairs that effectively restored the hotel’s exterior.

Accommodating historic preservation guidelines and requirements, Hoffmann Architects’ exterior restoration program resolved extensive water infiltration problems at the slate mansard roofs, brick copings and facades, and terra cotta ornamentation. A phased construction program ensured that not more than 20% of the hotel’s guestrooms were out of service at any one time.