Mardis Building / King Daddy’s Chicken + Waffles

Asheville, North Carolina

MERITS

National Register of Historic Places

Griffin Award - 2015

HISTORIC PRESERVATION / MARKET RATE HOUSING / COMMERCIAL

Built in 1925 as what was then West Asheville's largest commercial structure, the 15,200-square-foot building at 444 Haywood Road housed many different businesses and uses through the years. The brick facade was covered with wood panels sometime in the 1960s, and the structure was somewhat overlooked as a historic building.

When the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2013, Rowhouse Architects was hired to transform it into a mixed used, historic tax credit project. The wooden panels were removed from the facade and the masonry structure was thoroughly refurbished. Eleven apartments were created on the abandoned 2nd floor and the long neglected street level spaces were completely transformed, modernized and updated.

Now the renovated building hosts the Second Gear outdoor gear store as well as King Daddy's Chicken & Waffle restaurant, and The Whist Bookstore.

Completed in 2014.