HGA maintains historic character in Central Standard Craft Distillery project

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Last summer, Central Standard Craft Distillery’s new downtown Milwaukee building opened to much fanfare.

HGA provided architecture services for the renovation of the 148-year-old building, and Gardner Builders was the construction manager.

At 16,200 square feet, the building is nearly seven times the size of Central Standard’s previous site. Its features include a distillery space, restaurant, bar, events space and rooftop patio.

“Maintaining and celebrating the historic character of the building created the underlining design aesthetic of exposed cream city brick walls and wood structure,” said HGA Project Designer Lyssa Olker. “Layered over this are branded elements in navy blue that provide contrast to the existing material and warm metals that reference the distilling equipment.

Gardner Builders began construction in January 2021 and continued it throughout the pandemic. The initial renovation provide structural stability to the building, which had developed a noticeable lean to the west as it had settled unevenly over the years on its original timber grillage foundation.

The work kept many of the building’s original design elements such as exposed cream city brick and wood columns. The building was originally put up in 1874 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.

The renovated space also includes a full kitchen servicing the building’s first-floor dining and bar area.

To ensure that the building would be safe to occupy, HGA’s structural engineering team conducted a study of the building’s construction and identified deficiencies, while developing practical solutions.

The primary structural work involved excavating under the building to install new pile-supported foundations; steel X-bracing, a concrete block shear wall and a new elevator shaft to counteract the westward lean of the building; and bringing in plywood diaphragms below the historic plank flooring to distribute lateral forces to the new shear walls and steel bracing.