It has been another great week of restoration and revitalization in Wheeling.
Kudos go to West Virginia Northern Community College for repurposing and revitalizing another corner of 16th and Market streets in downtown Wheeling.
Congratulations and thanks also are extended to the Wheeling chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and its partners, the Wheeling National Heritage Area Corp. and the Wheeling Park Commission, for spearheading the restoration of the historic Madonna of the Trail monument along National Road.
The week began with the much-anticipated opening of West Virginia Northern’s latest facility on the southwest corner of 16th and Market streets, featuring a combination Barnes & Noble bookstore and Starbucks shop on the new building’s first floor and the college’s student activities center on the second floor. Public officials, civic leaders and other guests joined college representatives for a ribbon-cutting ceremony and grand opening of the new facility Monday, July 15.
Wheeling architect Victor Greco, who also is the genius behind the transformation of the intersection’s northwest corner for Northern’s new Applied Technology Center, noted that his design for the new bookstore-student union picks up architectural elements of Northern’s historic B&O Building located across the street. Greco explained that the new facility’s clock tower is a historic nod to a clock tower that once stood at the former B&O Railroad station. The architect added that he wanted the new clock tower to create a piazza-like look for the plaza area adjacent to the center’s entrance.
As with the Applied Technology Center, the new building’s copper accents complement the copper trim on the roof of the B&O Building, Greco pointed out.
For many years, a large building on the intersection’s southwest corner was occupied by a bank until that institution moved to a new facility out the pike in the 1970s.
Later, a Winky’s restaurant operated in part of the building for a time. Eventually, the vacant former bank building was razed. More recently, the corner lot was occupied by the Straub Hyundai sales office until the dealership built a new complex at The Highlands.
July 21, 2013 by Linda Comnis at The Intelligencer / Wheeling News-Register