The building at 226 W. Market Street in downtown York was in desperate need of new ownership when Murphy & Dittenhafer Architects decided to make the building its new home.
Frank E. Dittenhafer II saw what everyone else did 20 years ago while exploring the old Hotel Codorus: an aging building plagued with unstable surfaces, a fourth floor caked with 6 inches of pigeon droppings, and an out-of-business adult bookstore tainting the street-level facade.
But he also saw what many didn’t: potential.
He recalled the striking amount of natural daylight shining through the building’s 54 windows. He found charm in its quirky floor levels, each one telling a story of the building additions that were made over the years.
“When I told my father we were going to buy the building, he said, ‘Are you sure? You must be kidding,’” Dittenhafer says. “Those were the kind of reactions I got.”
‘Open to the adventure’
Murphy & Dittenhafer Architects first got involved with the property at 226 W. Market Street in downtown York in 1997, when the Redevelopment Authority Board of York City acquired the building and wanted to revitalize it as part of “The Cornerstone Project” on the city’s west end.
The firm was selected to complete a study of three empty West Market Street buildings for the City – but Dittenhafer and Michael Murphy had no initial interest in M&D moving in any of them. At the time, Murphy & Dittenhafer rented office space from Kunkle Insurance in the 300 block of East Market Street. But as the firm grew, it needed more room.
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Dittenhafer remembers visiting more than 20 properties as candidates for a new M&D home in York City, but none felt like the right location. Meanwhile, the Redevelopment Authority was looking for a buyer for the Hotel Codorus and asked M&D to consider it – after no one else expressed any serious interest.
“I thought that place could have some potential,” Dittenhafer says. “We were probably a bit naive and didn’t know everything that we were getting into, but here was a chance for us to be in a prominent location – on the York waterfront. We were open to the adventure.”
New life in an old building
When renovations began in late 1998, the priority was to stabilize the building. It took a little longer than Dittenhafer anticipated to get to the finish line, but after a little more than a year of renovations, the firm moved in during January of 2000.
Joining Murphy & Dittenhafer Architects as the initial tenants in the Hotel Codorus, was Kline Graphic Design – the visual communications firm owned by Sue Ann Kline, Dittenhafer’s wife – who had actually subletted space to the architectural firm within her studio suite in the 300 block of East Market Street – for their first York office. Both companies have enjoyed and prospered over the past 20 years within their “waterfront” workplace location.
“There was never a point where we thought we should turn back,” Dittenhafer says. “It was almost the opposite. The more we uncovered during the renovation, the more excited we got about the building and its idiosyncrasies.”
When it was first constructed in the 1830s, the building at 226 West Market Street was built to be two and a half floors, with taller ceilings on the first floor. Two additional floors were added by proprietor John W. Baker in 1904 to convert the structure into the Hotel Codorus – an early version of a “boutique hotel” including a Palm Court, Boat Launch, and indoor plumbing including one bathroom on each of the four floors.
After moving in, Murphy & Dittenhafer Architects considered itself the steward of the Hotel Codorus building, respecting each quirk and unique detail. While the building would never be one that people would point to as a pure example of any specific architectural style, Dittenhafer says, its story was one worth celebrating.
Exceeding expectations
For the first couple of years, Dittenhafer mulled on his ideas for the backyard before finally creating a landscape/hardscape plan that incorporated a little plaza between the two porches and the creek wall.
He made space for tables and chairs and installed planting pots directly in the ground, adding a unique landscaping feature that also honored the iconic large magnolia tree many Yorkers recall for its magnificent beauty each spring.
About five years ago, the firm expanded into the space next door, a former used furniture store and small engine repair shop at 228 W. Market St., now known as “c o d.”
M&D completed renovations in 2015, which included uncovering a unique concrete floor and exposing old wood and steel roof framing and decking on the 14-foot-high ceilings. Today, the energizing environment houses the firm’s interior design department (Murphy & Dittenhafer Interiors), an art gallery, and a large mixed-use conference/collaboration room.
It’s been a place for conversation and innovation far beyond what Dittenhafer first envisioned – becoming an event space for the Women’s Giving Circle, York College Art Walk with local high schools, the York City Academy, a venue for speakers, musical performances, community fund raisers and many more.
With the “c o d” purchase, Dittenhafer also expanded the outdoor landscaping, and the firm has hosted several parties with live music, good food, and welcomed company in that area.
“Being here – having a home in these two spaces – has really exceeded our expectations for how it would augment our business with the community,” Dittenhafer says. “It evolved into that over time, and when I think of where we started, I never would have guessed it would house the memories it does now.”
The memorial’s groundbreaking took place in June, and the dedication is set to take place on November 11, 2024, or Veterans Day.