Scope of Work
A multi-story brick and stone commercial building on a busy corner of Jamaica Avenue in Jamaica, Queens, with shops at street level and the name Ludwig Baumann still carved in the stone band above them. Alex GC's scope was the windows and the storefront: aluminum double-hung windows in the brick openings of the upper floors, and storefront glazing framed in custom aluminum tubing in the large openings between the stone piers.
Aluminum Double-Hung Windows
The upper floors are a regular grid of tall, narrow openings between brick piers, the proportions of a building designed for double-hung windows. Replacing them with aluminum double-hungs keeps the look the facade was built around, two sashes one above the other with a meeting rail across the middle, while giving the building a frame that does not rot, does not need painting and holds insulating glass. The dark finish sits back in the masonry so the brick and stone detail stays the feature. For how double-hungs compare with other types, see casement vs double-hung vs tilt-and-turn.
Storefront in Custom Aluminum Tubing
The large openings in the lower part of the building are divided by stone piers and sit above a carved stone sill course. A stock storefront section would not have suited them: the openings are tall, the old masonry is not perfectly regular, and the sightlines had to stay slim beside the stonework. We framed them in custom aluminum tubing, rectangular aluminum tube sections cut and assembled to the size of each opening, with tall lites of glass between slender vertical members.
Working in tube gives control that a catalog system does not: the depth and face width of each member can be chosen for the span, and the frame can be made to fit an opening as it actually is.
Working on an Older Building
New glazing on an old masonry building is mostly about respect for what is there. Openings are measured one by one, because no two are quite the same after a century. Frames are set to the masonry without cutting into the stone, and the perimeter is sealed so that water runs off the sills as the original builders intended. More on our approach in window replacement.
Photographs
Photographed during the work; protection and labels are still on some of the glass.
Similar Work and Related Specifications
Double-hung windows · Window replacement · Commercial aluminum systems · Storefront doors · 99 Claremont Avenue, Manhattan · Surfview Towers, Long Beach · 31st Street, Queens storefront
Planning Something Similar?
If you own or manage an older commercial building and need new windows or storefront glazing that suit it, send us photographs and a count of the openings. We will measure and price the work.