Jewel on the Green
In the wake of the recent crowning of Bob Capace as the 2023 Worthington Area Chamber of Commerce 2023 Businessperson of the Year, it now seems appropriate to retell the story of the “Jewel on the Green,” the 2013 debut of an addition and remodeling of the existing Worthington Jewelers store on North High Street located at the southeast corner of Worthington Commons.
Bob had a few specific goals for the project: To transform the store’s marketplace position and brand presence while remaining in its current location. To obtain some much-needed retail store, lab, and office/conference space, as well as create a signature architectural expression, all while working within the stringent design guidelines of the Old Worthington historic district.
Worthington Jewelers began a conceptual design effort with Worthington-based Peter Lenz, AIA of Lenz Architecture who conceived of the idea of a three-tiered massing for the proposed addition. I worked with Peter Lenz to strategize an esthetic expression for the tiered addition that would be more palatable to Worthington’s strict Architectural Review Board (ARB), especially in light of its proposed location on the city’s historically significant public square. My idea was to think of the addition as analogous to the garden gazebo house on the site of a traditional 1800’s era brick mansion.
The City’s Architectural Review Board (ARB) scrutinized the project over a four-month period to ascertain the design’s appropriateness within this neighborhood’s historical context. I had a plan for presenting the proposed design to the ARB. New software debuted in the architectural community at about that time, tying the baseline grade of the project to a printed “target” on a stiff piece of cardboard (think of today’s QR code) by allowing the laptop’s camera to focus on the target. The projected image looked like I was holding the 3D model of the proposed addition in my hands. When the ARB members asked questions about the design intent, I was able to rotate the model to whichever portion of the building best addressed their concerns. This new
technology went a long way toward obtaining ARB’s design approval for the project. My company then took over the documentation of the design and I served as the Architect of Record.
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Inside the Worthington Jewlers
Once completed, the building won the Old Worthington Association’s top award of the year for the most compelling project in the historic district. The building presents a bold, new, brand expression within a traditional architectural context that transforms the community by firmly anchoring its side of the town square. Through innovative volumetric expression, combined with traditional detailing, the project gives the client the desired presence while comfortably embracing the existing character of the neighborhood. As a result, the project successfully advanced the client’s branding and became a model for working creatively within the ARB’s restrictive guidelines for Old Worthington’s Historic District and its unique position on the National Historic Register.
The "Jewel on the Green" is an accomplishment in which the entire Worthington Community can take great pride…it still sparkles brightly on the Worthington Commons some 10 years later.
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-Article contributed by Peter S. Macrae, AIA, Principal, Macrae ARCHitecture
-Photos by Peter Lenz, "Foto Lenz"
