Restoration of the historic A.G. Gaston Motel has begun.

The A. G. Gaston Construction Company is under contract with the City of Birmingham to create mock-ups of the design treatments for the motel. Mock-up work is underway and will be completed in July 2019, to be followed by the full exterior restoration of the 1954 wing of the motel. That phase of construction is expected to be completed in December 2020.

A.G. Gaston Motel was a lynchpin of the civil-rights movement. Room 30 served as the war room, where civil-rights leaders strategized plans for Project C, protests that would set the stage for a national reckoning for civil rights for black people and change the world.

The A. G. Gaston Motel is the key historic resource within the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument, which was created January 11, 2017 through presidential proclamation by President Obama. The monument’s goal is to preserve and interpret the events, stories, and places associated with the nonviolent struggle against racial segregation in Birmingham, Ala., during the mid-20th century. It is operated under a co-stewardship agreement by the National Park Service and the City of Birmingham.