Stately face life for an old icon: The memorable Chamberlin Hotel is back in business

Daily Press (Newport News, Va.) (MCT) - When the historic Chamberlin Hotel shut its doors in 2003, the future of the landmark Hampton Roads structure looked anything but certain.

For nearly two years, its owners had struggled with the fallout of the 9-11 terrorist attacks, only to see their business drop off some 70 percent because of Fort Monroe's stringent new security measures. Twenty more months would pass after the building closed, during which time lack of upkeep and water leaks inflicted increasing damage.

By the time a Richmond architectural firm made its first visit in mid-2004, the once-posh interior had become a surreal shadow of its former self. Bricks were peeling away from the celebrated waterfront facade. But these alarming signs of accelerating decline didn't stop the planners or the small group of local investors who remembered the iconic resort in its heyday _ and decided to back its revival.

Four years and $54 million later, the depth of their faith can be seen in the completion of a historic preservation and adaptive reuse project that the state department of historic resources director calls "truly phenomenal."

More than 86,000 square feet of the Chamberlin's public spaces, including its famous indoor pool and sumptuous Chesapeake Room dining hall _ have been resurrected with meticulous attention to period materials and details. Similar care has been lavished on the remaining 126,000 square feet of private space, where the historic architectural elements and unbeatable views that once distinguished 294 rooms have become the backbone of 133 new suites designed for independent senior living.

As one of the project's most fervent supporters put it _ keen personal interests shaped the rescue job from the beginning. What resulted was a kind of attention that went far beyond the usual steps needed to protect a calculated investment.

"When I think about it, almost everybody involved with this building has some personal connection _ some emotional tie _ that you just don't see in other projects," says Wendy Drucker, whose family real-estate firm _ Drucker & Falk _ was the driving force behind the restoration.

"I met my best friend here at the pool when I was just 8 years old. David Falk Sr.'s family used to have Sunday dinners here. And the head architect's mother worked at the front desk when he was a kid. That gave all of us an unusual kind of passion for the project from the beginning."

Designed by noted Virginia architect Marcellus E. Wright Sr., whose other landmark structures include the John Marshall Hotel and The Mosque in Richmond, the Chamberlin-Vanderbilt Hotel opened in 1928 on one of the choicest pieces of property in Hampton Roads.

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Three other prominent resort hotels had occupied the famous spot at Old Point Comfort in the previous 107 years _ and the spectacular waterfront site played a key role in convincing backers to bankroll the renovation project.

"You know the old saying. 'Location, location, location' is the real estate investor's mantra," Drucker says. "You just can't do better than the tremendous views that you get from virtually every room in the Chamberlin. They're unsurpassed."

The run-down old building also had something else that its supporters regarded as a unique and potentially profitable investment opportunity.

Working in consultation with Warren and Wetmore _ the influential New York architectural firm that designed such hallmark structures as The Biltmore Hotel _ Wright devoted more than 40 percent of his symmetrical U-shaped design to such public spaces as the grand corridor and stately dining room. Then he shaped those spaces with layer after layer of handsome, orderly and elegant architectural features borrowed from the Georgian era and re-interpreted through the lens of the Beaux Arts style.

"The bones of this building are just incredible," Drucker says, describing the ornate columns, ceilings, windows and floors that give the main floor such presence and character. "You can't build a building like this today. It would just cost too much _ and we knew those kind of features would set it apart."

Still, even Robert Burns of Commonwealth Architects in Richmond _ a veteran of numerous historic preservation and reuse projects _ recognized the scope of the challenge the first time he visited the long-vacant building. Pummeled by its exposure to a waterfront environment on the outside and damaged by persistent leaks on its interior, the once-grand hotel was clearly down on its luck.

"What we saw was a building in its raw, raw form," he recalls. "The previous owners had just abandoned everything, locked the doors and left. So it was just a little surreal."

Once Burns and his team recovered from their initial surprise, they quickly identified the potential of the building's handsome public spaces, especially in terms of earning historic preservation tax credits. Far more problematic were the private rooms on the third through eighth floors, which were much too small to suit real estate mogul David Falk Sr.'s vision of transforming the structure into upscale senior apartments.

Though a few of the largest rooms measured as much as 22 ˝ feet by 13 Ľ feet, most were uncomfortably diminutive by modern standards _ with some providing only 140 square feet of living area. So Burns and his colleagues began to sketch out ways to reconfigure these spaces while maintaining the historic integrity of the hotel's door-studded corridors.

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"We looked for natural breaks in the existing configuration, then tried to come up with a variety of attractive spaces for one- and two-bedroom apartments," he says. "We ended up with 53 different floor plans _ and they're all just a little bit different."

Many of these apartments incorporate original materials and details, preserving the look and feel of the old hotel if not its outdated living spaces. High ceilings, wood flooring and period molding make up the most commonly saved or replicated features, though many of the rooms carved out of what was the Virginia Room on the second floor also boast unusually large, elegantly arched Palladian windows.

"We were very careful about saving as much as we could in the demolition process _ and we found a lot of opportunities to keep the original materials and finishes, even in the new apartments," Burns says. "That's the kind of thing that makes this project different. It was like a treasure hunt."

Back in the Chamberlin's public spaces, a small army of craftsmen refurbished and reinstalled the original chandeliers. They refinished the original terrazzo floors though a painstaking 12-step process. They installed hundreds of thousands of custom-made tiles around the hotel's sparkling indoor pool, topping off a mini-restoration job that cost some $650,000 by itself.

Other workers restored the column capitals and decorative ceiling elements, casting replacement pieces from custom-made molds whenever a damaged or missing section of plaster couldn't be repaired. Still more workers outfitted the completed spaces with carefully chosen finishes, carpeting and furniture as well as new china for the dining room.

What resulted was a transformation that Kathleen Kilpatrick, head of the state's department of historic resources, describes as a benchmark for the future preservation and re-use of Fort Monroe's other historic properties.

"You want careful attention to detail _ and here it extends beyond what you see in the public spaces to the private areas _ and it does it to a very high degree," she says. "It's a phenomenal project. They did a remarkable job. And it's really nice to be out of the box at Fort Monroe with such a spectacular showpiece."

Ordinary people seem to like the results, too, judging by the early reception from both potential residents and members of the surrounding community. Since opening for sales tours in mid-year, the historic but also brand new Chamberlin has attracted a constant and frequently vocal stream of admirers.

"I can't tell you the number of people who've walked through these doors and shared their memories of their first kiss, their first prom or their family's Sunday dinners in the dining room," Executive Director Sue Moniak says.

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"People grew up here knowing the Chamberlin as a very special, special place, and now _ in many ways- it's better than it ever was. It's a one-of-a-kind property _ a real icon."

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IF YOU GO:

What: The Chamberlin

Where: 2 Fenwick Road on Fort Monroe, Hampton, Va.

When: The Chesapeake Room and other public spaces are open to the public 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Sundays for a buffet luncheon, 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Mondays for lunch and Monday-Friday evenings for dinner by reservation.

Info: 637-7200, www.historicchamberlin.com

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© 2008, Daily Press (Newport News, Va.).