Several sense-of-place motifs drive the design of Fairmont Hotel Pittsburgh, which opened about a year ago. There’s the city’s muscular industrial heritage, of course, and there is the dual presence of the “Andys,” Carnegie and Warhol. But what really sets the 185-room hotel apart is the trove of 19th-century artifacts uncovered from 10 wells located during its construction.

Jeff Henry, principal at Gensler and lead designer of the Fairmont Hotel project, says that when he and senior project designer Miyuki Yamaguchi first encountered the findings, “we were like kids in a candy shop.”

It turns out that the wells had been used as dumping grounds for previous tenants in the neighborhood, including a department store and a tea shop. All told, the designers sifted through more than 20,000 artifacts, from perfume and beer bottles to figurines and dinnerware.

The designers incorporated the discoveries in several ways. Each elevator bank contains steel-framed vitrines whose glass has been carved and backlit in the Victorian style known as lithopane to showcase the treasures on display. Art consultant Rhonda Goodall of Louisville, Kentucky, used enlarged, digitally enhanced images that focus on revealing details of specific artifacts like china dolls and introduce a contemporary feel to the proceedings.

For Yamaguchi, these techniques just cement the overarching sense of “old meets new” that governs the property. “The first thing you think of with a Fairmont property is the white marble and other classic touches,” she says. “Yet, this is a brand new building in a very modern city. So the carpet design has traditional motifs but they’re expressed in a stylized Warhol fashion. For example, we use historic florals, but shift the palettes in surprising ways.”

In guestrooms, the team turned to Pittsburgh itself for inspiration, drawing blues from the city’s famous rivers and neon hues like lime from its iconic bridges. “We were very aware of honoring Fairmont’s commitment to recognizing the area’s local authenticity,” says Henry.