The California Preservation Foundation awarded the Atascadero City Hall Repair and Rehabilitation project the 2014 Preservation Design Award in the rehabilitation category. Originally constructed in 1918 as the centerpiece of E.G. Lewis' utopian Atascadero Colony, the building was severely damaged in the 2003 San Simeon earthquake. The almost 10-year rehabilitation included the insertion of a new foundation, removal of the interior labyrinth resulting from years of multiple uses, the restoration of architectural features in line with the original 1914 design intent, and a fresh color scheme, based on the local natural surroundings. One of only two double-rotunda buildings west of the Mississippi—the other being the State Capitol in Sacramento—the building's lower rotunda, the focal point of three floors of offices, was programmed as lobby space and a permit office; City Council chambers were constructed in the upper rotunda, and a museum for the Historical Society was established.

(July 2014)