Athol Manor Celebrates Ribbon Cutting
Columbia, MD
On Monday, October 4th, Harkins celebrated the ribbon cutting of The Apple Ford Center at Athol Manor, located on the property of Brightview Columbia in Columbia, MD.
In partnership with Legacy Investments and Brightview Senior Living, Athol Manor is an 18th century, 280-year-old building that Harkins restored while preserving its historical features. It was gifted to the Community Foundation of Howard County and now serves as the organization’s new headquarters. Made of local materials such as granite, oak, walnut, and pine, it was built this way to reflect the importance of the position that the church held within the colonial society and the craftsmanship of the immigrant Scottish masons who constructed the building. The once dilapidated building is now a dedicated space for non-profit art groups and is one of the oldest buildings in Howard County. Brightview Columbia proudly displays the 30-foot cupola that once stood on the manor.
“For an incredibly high-tech operation, Harkins operated in a very personal and old-fashioned way. The team put a lot of time and thought into preserving history in Athol Manor,” said Community Foundation of Howard County Director of Operations, Compliance, and Human Resources Jay Vidyarthi. “The original banister from the 1700s was too low for code. Rather than remove it completely, the team sliced it off the base and built a new base that looked like the original, raising it up to code. The professionalism of Harkins and love of the building’s past drove them to find unique solutions to keep the history alive.”