West Depot Architecture

06/03/2025

The last few years have been a whirlwind. We will certainly get everyone caught up to speed soon, but wanted to share some images of growth and renewal in downtown Elkin. The new office of 206architects is nearly complete and the view from my office is going to be amazing thanks to our new friends, Andrew and Sarah at Hand in Hand Creative.

01/16/2023

The theater renovation and gallery addition are complete at Lakeland Cultural Arts Center. This historic school auditorium has been given a new life and turned into a state of the art performing arts theater. The gallery and lobby addition will allow the theater to host private parties, gallery openings and civic events. The community of Littleton, NC, has gained some amazing facilities over the past few years that are attracting many new visitors from around the region. Congratulations to all involved!

GC: Sela Building Corporation

11/01/2022

We have some incredible clients who keep striving towards far-reaching goals in their local Main Street communities. REF Properties is definitely one of the best! Look at their vision to restore the old JC Penney building in Mt. Airy back to its prime. In addition to the building renovations, they wanted to study the potential of moving all of Mt. Airy's Main Street utilities underground to free up their beautiful downtown from overhead power and telecom lines. This sunset rendering is our favorite!

09/23/2022

We are thrilled to see Stone Fired Social getting very close to opening their doors. Thank you Chad, Nate and Katy for entrusting us with another one of your projects. Best wishes in your new space!

The owners of The String Bean are opening Stone Fired Social right next door.

12/09/2021

We are continually impressed with our rendering partners. As clients go through the process of selecting exterior materials and wondering which color combinations will work best, there is no better way to help make these decisions than high quality renderings. Here are a couple of images for a hillside project near the Mitchell River in Devotion.

08/30/2021

We work in a lot of old textile mills. They are one of our favorite building types to bring back to life. The first step of the process is to walk through and survey the building. As you can imagine, we find a lot of interesting and sometimes unnerving things during this phase. I'm always concerned that we're going to come across a co**se one day, as there are many, mostly abandoned, homeless camps in these old mills.

Last week I opened the door to a room that looked like it was occupied the day before. It was the infirmary at Chatham Mill, in our hometown. I have no idea how long it had been since anyone had been through that doorway, but it honestly felt like they had just left their shift yesterday. The sheets were crisp, the bedside tables were prepped for the next incoming accident, there wasn't a cobweb in the room, and the sharps container was half full. You can zoom into the photo to read the PSYCHOACTIVE CHEMICALS chart. I realize this mill hasn't been closed that long, but this room shouldn't have been that clean. It was eerie!

Over the weekend I reflected on the experience and the photos I captured. My thoughts moved from unnerving to respect. More than anything I think it is a testimony to the pride that came from working at the mill. Whoever left the room like this had every intention of returning the next day, or leaving it in perfect condition for the next shift.

03/19/2021

Spring is in the air, and we're ready to design a few houses. Had the pleasure of walking these 40+ acres this week to find just the right site for a new home. With a half-miile of river frontage, a pond, these beautiful pastures and some mountain views, the decision making process wasn't easy.

10/22/2020

We were above the clouds this morning walking this amazing site before we start designing a new mountain house. By the time we left, we had it all figured out.

We're going to need a lot of glass for this one!

10/12/2020

Blue Jay Bistro, Main Street Wine and Daphne's Coffee Shop all getting closer to opening later this month. Three main street projects for an awesome client. We can almost smell the coffee!

10/10/2020

We're a little late sharing these renderings, but wanted to upload before posting some progress photos from the site yesterday. This group of Main Street buildings in Littleton has become one of our favorite projects.

Renderings are an effective way of sharing our project vision before construction begins. In the next post you can see how close the renderings are to the actual spaces.

09/03/2020

Getting into the details phase on another series of Main Street projects. This three-building cluster is being transformed into a bistro, wine shop, coffee shop and small event space. We were on site last week while this steel framed patio canopy was being erected. Love the way it is coming together.

08/25/2020

With interest rates at all-time lows, there's never been a better time to call your architect to get started on that lake or mountain getaway. These are a few of the sites we explored this weekend before starting design concepts on some new projects. We can't wait to see what evolves on these amazing properties.