Garden State Brickface
 

"Innovation in Construction" Award

for Historical Restoration

Built in 1869, the building was a storefront on the first floor, and the remaining floors served as the living quarters for the owners of the building.  The building is now being converted to upscale doctor's offices on the fashionable Park Avenue in Manhattan.

Garden State Brickface, Windows & Siding was called in by the owner due to the extreme deteriorated condition of the existing brown stone facade, including the brownstone window surrounds.  The building is an historic landmark building in New York City.  Upon close examination of the existing facade, we found the structure to be sound, however, the exterior skin of the brown stone and the window surrounds were too deteriorated to repair, as they had turned to soft powder.  The challenge was to maintain the existing appearance, while keeping an aesthetic look that would be pleasing.  The method of resurfacing chosen was to apply a traditional had sculpted stucco brownstone block that was replicated to the design of the original building.  This was plastered on like stucco, floated down and then had lines cored in it to duplicate the original look

"Innovation in Construction" Award

for Best Facelift

The sixty-year-old house of 5,000 square feet was to be transformed to be the "Last Word in Design"; high tech, heating and air conditioning, electronic alarms, visual and sound entertainment equipment

- all state-of-the-art.

The first job was the exterior.   Garden State Brickface was called in and given the task to design a concept which included molded carvings and a 19th century colored, textured stucco finish to satisfy the confused and dejected owner.

Sample after sample was made and rejected until we showed the owner a 200-year-old villa in Spain.   We made a sample to simulate the texture and color of the villa and approval was immediate.

In order to duplicate the double relief molding our manufacturer and designer had to retool to come up with the exotic casings and keystones.   Raised window surrounds and door treatments, as well as, quoines in extruded polystyrene were designed. Applying them over cement next to five coats of hand rubbed mahogany windows with a fast drying bonding agent was time consuming and nerve racking.  

The original house was filled with voids and spacing and had to be chipped and flash patched prior to starting the job.   After the addition was complete, special galvanized spacers and trim were installed before lathing with 3.4" galvanized steel lath.   The iron oxides had to be carefully measured before folding them into a cyclo-blending hopper for consistency of color.   The "Instant-Crete" textured finish coat was carefully hand troweled, as the frame and windows could not be masked.

We achieved the "Last Word in Design" that the owner was looking for.   The result was that we created a rich looking, maintenance free exterior facade that fit the architectural integrity of the home.