2021 Award of Merit: Warrenton

Warrenton Town Hall Rehabilitation

2021 Small Town Main Street Award: Design

The Warrenton Town Hall, located on the corner of South Bragg and East Market Street, was built in 1907 and 08. It is one of the most architecturally significant commercial structures in Warrenton, however the building was vacant for six years and served as home to a flight of pigeons roosting inside.

The $2.2 million rehabilitation cost seemed out of reach for a community with a population of 864. After several years of working on different funding strategies, a conversation with the US Department of Agriculture determined the Town of Warrenton qualified for a Community Facilities Grant.

Working with Belk Architecture of Durham, North Carolina, the internal structure of the building was carefully rehabilitated to meet the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation, even though it was not an historic tax credit project. The building was redesigned to accommodate offices and meeting space for the town’s administration and public works departments, and the Warrenton Board of Commissioners.

Since the completion of the project in February 2021, the Warrenton Town Hall rehabilitation has influenced the improvements of several buildings, development of office space, establishment of six new retail and restaurant businesses, and the addition of twenty-two apartments.

In October 2021, the Warrenton Town Hall project was recognized with a Gertrude S. Carraway Award of Merit from Preservation North Carolina.