Assembly, the downtown Norfolk office campus housed in a century-old building, is being awarded The Gabriella Page Outstanding Preservation Project Award by Preservation Virginia. The restored five-story building at 400 Granby Street, which was co-designed by Work Program Architects and Campfire & Co., joins a distinguished list of preservation projects that have been recognized by the organization since 1971. 

“The 2024 slate of awardees demonstrates the power of historic preservation in revitalizing communities and sharing stories the general public otherwise may not know,” said Elizabeth S. Kostelny, Preservation Virginia CEO, in a statement. “Historic preservation is a proven economic engine in cities and rural areas, and the stories these places share add understanding to where we came from and where we’re going.” 

Assembly actually occupies three historic buildings on Granby: the Ames & Brownley, built in 1919, which became Rice’s Department Store; the Sears & Roebuck building, and an adjacent warehouse. A full restoration brought back the main building’s 1920s appearance, while a thorough renovation of the 50,000-square-foot building introduced public spaces, a five-story open air stairway, shared work areas for the tenant businesses, and a rooftop terrace.

In recognizing the project and a design-build team that includes Commonwealth Preservation Group and Clancy & Theys Construction, Preservation Virginia stated that “Assembly represents visionary and creative preservation of a historic building while adaptively re-using it for modern audiences.”

In addition to housing GROW, a digital innovation agency and the building’s anchor tenant, the office building is home to a number of technology and creative companies, including 757 Startup Studios, Orbis, Affari Project, Have a Good Day, Lynch Mykins, Istoria, RISE (Resilience Innovations) and Work Program Architects.

“This is a magnificent building with an incredible history,” said Robert Crawshaw, the project designer for Assembly. “It was so important to us that we preserve that history and its character, even as we prepared the building for its next chapter, as an incubator for creativity and innovation in this region. This award is recognition that we succeeded.”

Assembly is one of five projects to receive the Gabriella Page award this year, joining the Murray-Dick-Fawcett House in Alexandria, The Waterford Mill in Waterford, Old City Hall in Richmond, and The Inn at Foster Falls in Max Meadows. All the recipients will be recognized during a ceremony Friday, September 27, at Main Street Station in Richmond.

Read the full list of recipients here.