Western Metal Supply Co. Building

Tony Gwynn Drive, Petco Park, San Diego, CA

When the Padres decided to build a state-of-the-art major league ballpark in downtown San Diego’s run-down East Village warehouse district, they settled on an 18-acre site occupied by several historic buildings. Instead of bulldozing the old structures, the Padres chose the path of preservation and adaptive reuse. A ground-breaking agreement was signed with the City of San Diego and several preservation groups to map out treatment plans for seven historically significant buildings.

The Western Metal Supply Company’s warehouse, designed in 1909 by respected architect Henry Lord Gay, was given a prominent spot within the design of the ballpark’s seating bowl. The four-story brick and heavy timber structure, with a total floor area of 51,400 square feet, was converted into the Padres Team Store, a restaurant, several party suites, a rooftop bar with bleacher seating, and cantilevered balconies overhanging left field.

The Western Metal building’s historic character was preserved, in particular the street façade, the heavy timber framing, maple floors, painted wall signage, prismatic glass transoms, ground floor woodwork, and the original vault. Creative design and detailing allowed for the sensitive integration of new systems and features. The site-specific seismic retrofit design utilized two shear walls with faux board-formed texture and collector frames with minimal visual impact. All work followed The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation.

The ballpark was built around the building and the playing field was repositioned slightly to the north to better accommodate the historic structure. The building’s southeast corner became the left field foul pole at 336 feet from home plate. If you hit the east side of the Western Metal building, that’s a home run!