It is reminiscent of the challenges that boards in pioneering buildings face: A facade inspection in a pre-war cop with 48 units in Greenwich Village showed rusted steel beams for the building Terra Cotta Carta, which practically balanced over the Broadway. In addition, the eroding historical frieze of winged torches, decorative flowers and lion heads was critical. “The floors of the Lions pine broke off and there were cracks so that it was about to collapse,” says Eric Vonderhyde, Co-Principal at Bertolini Architectural Works.
While Terra Cotta often have special challenges, outdated building techniques added complexity to milmeted Broadway Co-OP complexity. A steel beam was parallel to the top of the facade and hooks that worked like a lever to support the decorated cornice. “The more masonry weight on the inside prevented the cornice from burning in the cornice,” says Oswald Bertolini, co-principal at Bertolini Architectural Works. With the rusting of the steel it was clear that the cornice and its support structure had to be replaced. A new seal was also required, a function that was missing in the original construction of the late 1800s.
The architects excluded a partial repair because the costs for trying to keep some of the better preserved cuts to cornice and replaced the rest did not make a financial sense. “For example, if you replace 60% of the cornice and then fail the last 40% over the next 20 years, the building would cost more over time,” says Bertolini. The total costs for the full replacement and the essential facade repairs on a side wall as well as new falls and thresholds were 2 million US dollars. Fortunately, “the building is pretty tight,” says Vonderhyde. “If it had been much wider, it would have been twice as high.”
In order to replace the frame for the cornice, the architects have embedded and welded new steel posts, bars and steel plates so that the weight of the heavy terracotta fully supported. The masonry, which previously served as a ballast for the cornice, was also replaced. “Before that, the masonry kept the projected cornice, but now it only makes the facade thick,” says Bertolini.
As a groundbreaking building, the cornice, which corresponds to the original design. For this, the cooperative turned to the production company Boston Valley Terra Cotta. One of the challenges at the terracotta is that it shrinks when baking. “The parts must be 7% larger so that they return to the right size when shrinking,” explains Bertolini. Creating the cornice detail is also very time -consuming. The process was to take a digital scan of the 27 -foot creditor before it was taken apart and removed. Each piece was then numbered so that it could be put together again. The production of the new pieces took about 10 months.
Construction started in March 2023 and the project was finally completed in August 2024. Cooperation with the Landmarks Preservation Commission also added the details of Terra Cotta that have been lost over the years. Based on a photo of the early 20th century, the cornice lacked a number of posts at the roof level, which was somewhere removed in the 1960s or 1970s. “We were able to appreciate the size and rebuild it as it would have been in the original construction,” says Vonderhyde.