The Savage and Cooke Distillery Building 45 is located in a historic structure built in 1864 that was originally used as a school for U.S. Navy apprentices. The building, vacant since 1993, has been renovated and retrofitted to house a whiskey barrel storage facility with two tasting rooms. As part of the renovation, the project team completed a seismic retrofit in accordance with the California Historic Building Code, which encourages preservation of historic structures.

To maintain architectural integrity during the building’s transformation, the distillery’s new design required that all portions of the structure previously exposed remain so, and that any new additions to the structure enhance the existing framing, not hide it. To help preserve and strengthen the structure, the team conducted proof-loading tests on existing wood framing and added structural steel where needed.

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