Behind the Fence – City of Lafayette Public Safety Center and Parking Garage

An important goal for the design and construction of the new Public Safety Center and Parking Garage was to integrate leading technology, innovative safety programs and a modern design to better serve the needs of the Lafayette Police Department and to meet the public’s expectations. The facility features innovative technology, including a real-time crime center that brings in multiple video feeds from City cameras and police body cams as well as news and weather information to evaluate in the event of a major incident. However, not every aspect of the building is new. Some history from Lafayette’s past was integrated into the new building.

A historical façade from the Horner Building located at 625 Columbia Street was incorporated into the project. The Horner Building featured a neo classical design and used was used as a showroom for the Horner Motor Company opening in 1924. Over time, the building had other uses including several restaurants, a dance studio, a tool supply shop, and hobby store. To make way for the new Public Safety Center and Parking Garage the Horner Building was demolished.

Incorporating a piece of Lafayette’s history into the new building was important to the public and to the city. “Reusing the historic façade from the Horner Building is important to preserving the history of Lafayette. The public wanted to see the building re-purposed and including the brick façade onto the new building is a nice marriage between old world architecture and modern design,” said Sean Lutes, President of the Lafayette Preservation Commission.

Before construction on the new building began, bricks and limestone were salvaged from the former Horner Building. Removal of the façade began in May 2021 and took approximately 3 weeks to complete. The bricks were carefully removed, labeled, palletized, and moved to an offsite location for storage. During the removal, each piece of brick and limestone was marked so it could be re-installed as close to the original design as possible. Photographs of the façade were taken and used in the installation.” It was important to preserve as much of the original design and historical elements as possible,” said Tom Morlan, Project Manager with Kettelhut Construction. Once removed, the bricks were cleaned and stored until recently when they were taken out of storage to be re-installed on the garage façade of the new Public Safety Center.

Over the past several weeks, the bricks and limestone were installed on the new parking garage along Columbia Street. This area of the garage will serve as a micro-retail site and is approximately 900 square feet in size. “From a design perspective, the biggest challenge was incorporating the front of an old building into a new building. We asked ourselves, how can we mix the old with the new and maintain the character of the building?” Dan Mcloskey, Project Architect, American Structurepoint.

“The City listened to the public. This initiative demonstrates that there is a middle ground between demolition and restoration. It shows we can meet the needs of today without losing historical architecture,” said Lutes. When the new Public Safety Center and Parking Garage open later this year, the community will be able to celebrate Lafayette’s past, present and future.