American Tobacco Receives Award for Renovation

American Tobacco won a 2005 Golden Leaf Award.

The American Tobacco Campus is now a thriving hub of activity and home to several businesses and eateries in downtown Durham, and people are taking notice. The renovated district has received another award for revitalizing the old tobacco warehouses. On May 19, 2005, the Durham City-County Appearance Commission presented Capitol Broadcasting Company and the American Tobacco architects with a 2005 Golden Leaf Award.

American Tobacco won the Golden Leaf Award for Renovated Commercial Properties. “Undoubtedly the largest adaptive re-use project in Durham’s history, the newly renovated American Tobacco Campus creates impressive interior and exterior spaces, with an unparalleled thoughtfulness in details,” reads the award citation.

“Outrageously significant. Visionary. Completely transformational,” commented the judges. “If there could be an all-over winner for this year’s entries, it would be this one!”

American Tobacco won because “The mixed-use project combines a loving restoration of one of Durham’s most iconic tobacco manufacturing facilities with a splash of high-tech enthusiasm evident everywhere from the new river to the clean lines of modern steel and glass.”

CBC VP of Community Relations Paul Pope accepted the award on behalf of CBC and American Tobacco. Architect Eddie Belk was also on hand to accept for American Tobacco designer Belk Architecture. Other American Tobacco designer firms include Coulter Jewell Thames, PA and Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart & Associates, Inc.

Eleven winners were honored by the 2005 Golden Leaf Awards for Community Appearance for the best visual contributions to the Durham community. The awards program strives to encourage better designed and better maintained properties in Durham.

An impartial panel of local professionals judged the entries.

The Durham City-County Appearance Commission is a 15-member advisory board that provides leadership, expertise, and oversight in the promotion of design excellence, visionary planning, and preservation of the best and most livable community standards.