Norfolk hotel harmonizes past and present.
What began with a jigsaw puzzle—made from 300-pound blocks of stone—ended this spring as the painstakingly reconstructed historic façade to The Main, a newly-opened luxury hotel and conference center in downtown Norfolk. The limestone blocks, carefully dismantled and preserved a decade ago when the original building on the site was demolished, remained in storage until developer Bruce Thompson decided to incorporate the elegant stone into the new structure—no easy task. Using historic photos, a team led by 71-year-old stonemason and independent contractor Ron Crum of James City County spent more than a year restacking all 538 blocks. The result is worth the effort. “It wonderfully matches the flavor and rhythm of Granby Street,” says Rob Uhrin of Atlanta-based design firm Cooper Carry, one of the lead architects on the project, who called the façade an especially unique feature. “There’s no question it has made the architecture more rich.” The limestone is juxtaposed against the modern hotel’s glittering 21 stories, which house 300 hotel rooms, an 18,000-square-foot ballroom and three restaurants. TheMainNorfolk.com
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