Avow

Fagiani’s, a bar opened in the 1940s, closed suddenly in 1974 after the murder of one of its owners in the backroom. For decades, liquor bottles molded with thick dust on cobwebbed shelves, a streetside time capsule. In 2016, vintner scion Joe Wagner began restoring this iconic watering hole to gather friends and neighbors. He called on our partner Bill Schaeffer for his expertise in historic preservation, and grew trusting of our exacting preconstruction and easy collaboration. Circling back to the original Renaissance Revival style meant reclaiming brick from overpaint and invisibly jeweling three levels of pressed tin ceilings with recesses that drip light in sultry pools as evening takes hold. Joe paired intently with BraytonHughes to let the speakeasy whisper of nooks and passageways lead a fluid design, richly finished with cerused ebony burled woods, dark leather and bronze. An open riverfront bar and upstairs restaurant topped with a lounge welcome the town to toast with Wagner wines and spirits. Once history, now legacy, the place everyone’s known is becoming the place everyone goes. As confidence earned from counsel and control becomes relationship, lengthening the way forward.

5,420 square feet
Napa, California

BraytonHughes Design Studios (Interior)
Architectural Resources Group  (Exterior)
Strandberg Engineering, Structural Engineer (Interior)
Tuan & Robinson Structural Engineers (Exterior)
Hiram Banks Lighting Design
Summit Engineering, Electrical Engineer
Costa Engineers, Mechanical & Plumbing Engineer