design profile
DP
After decades of remaining vacant and derelict, Heckendorn Shiles Architects has reimagined the Ambler Boiler House as a 48,000-square-foot LEED Platinum-certified office building, fulfilling the joint goals of contributing to Ambler’s local creative economy and preserving the historical link to its past. The Keasbey & Mattison Company built the Ambler Boiler House in 1897 as a power-generating station for the production of asbestos products. After the Great Depression, the company dissolved and the building remained vacant for decades. In the 1980s, the EPA contained the site, protecting and addressing any asbestos materials.
Summit Realty Advisors, with John Zaharchuck at the helm, purchased the property in the early 2000s, when the town of Ambler was undergoing a revitalization and emerging as a hot spot. The purchase was in accordance with Ambler Main Street’s commitment to a better utilization of existing real estate. While the property was ripe for a commer-
context | SU2013 | 29