Company restores, renovates historic buildings | Arts & Culture

On the outside, the building that Design Innovation Architects, Inc. resides in looks like you've stepped back in time.

The inside still retains the steel beams and brick walls from 1910. And though some of the office space is modernized, it still has that historic charm.

This is what DIA does restore and renovate.

DIA, a company that has been around since 1989, has done this to many buildings in the Downtown Knoxville area including the Phoenix Building, 29 Market Square and the Patrick Sullivan's Building.

President of DIA and UT graduate, Faris Eid, said historic preservation is crucial to a city like Knoxville.

"You always notice that there's something special about the historic character of buildings," Eid said. "Those are the ones that define what a city looks like."

Restoring the buildings has its challenges, Eid said, but no two buildings are alike in their restoration. Over the years, many of Knoxville's historic buildings have been renovated. They've had pieces torn off, added on and built into them.

"So the magic is how do we restore while preserving the historical components," Eid said.

One of the first things in the construction process is ridding the buildings of the unwanted, non-historical additions. DIA also looks at archival photos of the buildings original design and tries to stay true to the original concept of the building, while still making it functional for modern day use. On occasion, DIA is able to reach out to the namesakes of a building and get floor plans.

The DIA team tries to save the majority of downtown Knoxville's old historic buildings,by stabilizing and coming up with creative ways to keep the buildings standing.

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Company restores, renovates historic buildings | Arts & Culture