The Darling Hotel to Receive Preservation Design Award

San Francisco, CA: The Darling Hotel will be presented with a prestigious Preservation Design Award for Rehabilitation at the 38^th Annual California Preservation Awards. The winning projects and teams will be formally recognized at both in-person events and online during a free, public ceremony to be scheduled for October 2021. The jury selected 20 winners this year, each highlighting innovative approaches to preservation. The annual California Preservation Awards recognizes significant achievements in architecture, history, design, and engineering, and showcases the leading people and patrons who make it all possible.

The Darling Hotel Project Description

This project sought to respectfully revitalize a significant but forgotten piece of Visalia’s vibrant history with a strategy to celebrate existing elements at all scales, while honestly rehabilitating the building for modern purposes. Exterior facades were carefully restored and a seamlessly designed stair tower was the only required exterior addition. Original interior fixtures and details were meticulously preserved and, if lost, were replicated by innovatively reusing other original building components and employing modern building techniques. The hotel’s rooftop restaurant “The Elderwood” which, like the hotel, is named to honor the owner’s family, celebrates the existing building by showcasing the concrete negative of the primary facade’s Art Deco frieze as a dramatic backdrop to its bar. A dynamic, generational story of family and community reverberates through all facets of the building, making The Darling Hotel a tangible promise to continue that story for generations to come.

About the California Preservation Foundation and the Preservation Design Awards

Since 1983, over 500 projects have been recognized with a prestigious Preservation Design Award. Winning projects are selected by a jury of top professionals in the fields of architecture, engineering, planning, and history, as well as renowned architecture critics and journalists. The jury selects projects that have furthered, to a notable degree, the purposes of the profession, consistent with the California Preservation Foundation’s mission.

The California Preservation Foundation (CPF) exists to ensure that the rich diversity of California’s historic resources are identified, protected and celebrated for their history and for their valuable role in California’s economy, environment and quality of life. Incorporated in 1978, CPF has grown from a small band of advocates to a statewide network of more than 20,000 members and supporters. CPF provides educational programs to a worldwide audience through online and in-person events, responds to hundreds of requests for assistance each year, and is at the forefront of preservation advocacy, from the state legislature to city halls across California.

• The Darling Hotel, Visalia. Rehabilitation. Realized by a deeply-rooted Visalia family, The Darling Hotel celebrates local heritage and introduces an exciting new place to experience the heart of Visalia by rejuvenating the city’s neglected historic courthouse with elegant, authentic architecture preserving and amplifying its legacy.