Farr Office Building Punta Gorda, Florida

Client: Farr Law Firm

Location: 99 Nesbitt Street

Site: An empty lot in the historic downtown of Punta Gorda adjacent to a new justice center.

Program Challenge: To create a “Florida-style” building to house the county’s oldest and most prominent law firm’s offices and other facilities all under one roof in a historic neighborhood.

Solution: Rowe Architects designed a 22,000 square foot building that includes offices, conferencing facilities, and a variety of other spaces for the firm’s many departments. The design takes into consideration the need for each department to have separate space, while also providing dedicated areas for collaboration and flexible settings to accommodate private and group work.

The design also satisfies the client’s desire for a refined yet understated solution for the image of the building. It takes advantage of the site’s incredible location – with views of the Peace River as it joins Charlotte Harbor – by providing the second floor offices with full width windows around the entire perimeter of the building. The design draws inspiration from cracker style homes common in Florida for the building’s exterior. Borrowing several design rules and components from that genre, it echoes historic Florida homes, while still presenting the professional, refined exterior the law firm requested. With much attention to detail, the interior space planning and design solution presents the same careful blend of familiarity and refinement.