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Part of How to Research Roadside Building Case Studies
Roadside Building Case Studies: Reading One in the Field
Roadside building case studies start in the field: at The Big Chicken, steel plates, patched footings and paint show what was done — and what was left undone.
What to take away
- The Big Chicken in Marietta, Georgia, is a real case study. Its 1993 rebuild cost about $200,000.
- Look for steel plates at corners and patched footings. They signal structural work.
- Maintenance is visible. Clear gutters and sound paint tell you the project did not end at the opening.
- Notice what was not done. The gaps are as informative as the work.
Roadside building case studies begin in the field. By the time a project is finished, most of what it cost is invisible, but the marks remain. The Big Chicken in Marietta, Georgia, shows the visible clues.
One landmark read closely is enough to learn the method. The Big Chicken is the worked example here, and the same checks transfer to any motel, diner or filling station you pull into.
The Big Chicken: steel plates and footings
The Big Chicken is a 56-foot roadside landmark in Marietta, Georgia. A 1993 storm damaged it. KFC spent about $200,000 to rebuild it. The repair left steel plates at the base corners and patched concrete footings. The plates tie the steel frame to the footings. You can see them from the parking lot.
The National Park Service's Preservation Brief 41, The Seismic Retrofit of Historic Buildings: Keeping Preservation in the Forefront, covers what this work involves. It explains how to do it with the least loss to the original fabric. That is the balance the visible fittings represent.
Read the site, not only the building
A project that stopped at the walls is common. You can spot it.
The National Park Service's Preservation Brief 36, Protecting Cultural Landscapes, sets out how a setting is understood: patterns of circulation, boundaries, plantings, small structures and the relationships between them.
At The Big Chicken, check the forecourt. Is the sign in its original position? Has the parking layout changed how you arrive?
Maintenance is the honest signal
A project's quality shows two years later, not at the opening.
Clear gutters, sound paint at ground level, no vegetation in the joints, drainage running away from the walls. These cost little and are the first to lapse. They tell you whether the building has an owner or only had a project.
Notice what was not done
Every project has a boundary. Find it.
The rear elevation left as it was. The wing not yet touched. The upper floor untouched above a restored ground floor. Each is a decision with a reason. Asking about it usually produces the most interesting part of the conversation. That is an argument for settling before you book whether the owner will be on site.
Five tools and materials behind the marks
Five tools and materials
- Simpson Strong-Tie LSTA12 strapa 12-inch, 20-gauge steel strap. It ties wood framing to walls and costs about $2 to $4.
- Simpson Strong-Tie HDU2 holdownanchors wood framing to concrete. It costs about $40 to $90 and suits shear walls at footings.
- Hilti HIT-RE 500 V4 epoxya two-part adhesive for anchoring steel plates and rebar into concrete. A 11.1 oz cartridge costs about $35.
- Foundation Supportworks helical pierssteel shafts with helical blades that screw into soil to support repaired footings. Cost often runs $1,500 to $4,000 per pier.
- Fortress Stabilization Foundation carbon fiber straps4-inch carbon fiber strips for foundation walls. They repair cracks without excavation and cost about $500 to $1,500 per wall.
A short field list
- Metal fittings in a regular patternstructural work
- Fresh mortar in a bandrepointing, and check whether it is harder than the brick
- New material at the base of wallsdamp treatment
- Mismatched roof sections: phased work or an insurance claim
- Rebuilt parapets and copingswater management
- Level changes at doorsaccess work
- Where the new paint stopsthe edge of the budget
Two visits are better than one
Come back a year later. Almost nobody does this. The comparison is where the actual lessons are: what has weathered, what has failed, what turned out to need doing again.
The research that turns observation into a case study is in the case-study method. The business side of the same decisions explains most of the boundaries you will find.
