Montreat Conference Center Left Bank Building

The Town of Montreat, is a 4,000 acre mountain community located at the foot of Greybeard Mountain and surrounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains. In 1905, the Montreat Conference Center was founded to serve the spiritual and recreational needs of guests from around the region, and then later, the entire country. The Montreat Conference Center commissioned us in 2010 to renovate its Left Bank Building, an historic 2,282 square-foot building located on Lake Susan, in the heart of Montreat.

The firm led a participatory design process, welcoming and incorporating input from Conference Center staff, major project donors and members of the community. The new program included two large “Smart” meeting rooms, a renovated kitchen, new accessible restrooms, signage, and improved covered porches and lakeside seating areas.

We also made the building accessible to all by adding a vertical lift, ramps and handrails throughout the space. As with all of our projects, sustainable strategies were incorporated into the design, such as replacement of existing windows with high performance windows, and installation of high levels of insulation and of high-efficiency lighting, plumbing and HVAC systems.

Photographs Courtesy of The Montreat Conference Center

General Contractor:  Dan Hensley, DSH Construction
Structural Engineer: Sutton-Kennerly Associates
MEP Engineers: Sims Group Consulting Engineers