The Granger Building / Granger Hotel Gaslamp Quarter
Adaptive Reuse Award

A REMARKABLE EXAMPLE of architectural endurance and thoughtful reinvention, the Granger Building has anchored the prominent corner of Fifth Avenue and Broadway since 1904. This Romanesque-style gem, designed by San Diego architect William Quayle for silver magnate Ralph Granger, has played many roles in the evolving urban landscape, from housing early banks and, later, law offices to, in one unforgettable chapter, sheltering zoo animals in its basement.

Today, after more than a century of civic and commercial use, the Granger Building has undergone a stunning transformation into the Granger Hotel, a 96-room luxury boutique property in the heart of the Gaslamp Quarter. Led by co-founders Alvin Mansour and Kevin Mansour, managing director of Oram Holdings, this ambitious adaptive reuse project exemplifies how historic preservation and contemporary needs can, and should, harmonize when revitalizing a city’s cultural and architectural heritage.

Notable features, such as the original 120-year-old doors still bearing their mail slots, have been retrofitted to meet modern sound and safety standards, while the building’s ornate tin ceilings have been meticulously restored. Together, these elements offer guests and visitors a tangible connection to the building’s storied past.

The design pays subtle homage to the building’s history, including its association with the early San Diego Zoo. A refined safari and naturalist interior-design motif, paired with bespoke artisan furnishings and original art, offers a narrative thread that honors history without resorting to pastiche.

Photos Top, middle and left, courtesy Granger Hotel Gaslamp Quarter; all remaining photos by Sandé Lollis

IMPORTANTLY, THIS PRESERVATION EFFORT revives a key example of San Diego’s historic architecture. It retains the Granger’s distinctive Romanesque character, marked by arched windows and stone detailing, while reimagining its interiors for a new generation of use, bringing long-term sustainability to a treasured site, and ensuring its continued relevance and vitality well into the future.

SOHO congratulates Alvin Mansour and Kevin Mansour of Oram Holdings with the Adaptive Reuse Award, recognizing the dedication, care, and vision required to adaptively reuse the historic Granger Building in a way that respects its origins, reveals its layers, and reintroduces it to the city as a place of beauty, meaning, and continued service.