The existing Tower Building, located at 1401 K Street NW, was built in late 1929. After 87 years, this iconic building needed an authentic restoration. The building facade consists of Indiana limestone and face brick installed on a masonry support system loaded to the floor slabs. Rugo performed an entire stone facade restoration. The building remained open and fully occupied with tenants during the construction process as a whole.
This building has many set backup elevations, and inside returns, which required an extensive amount of swing scaffold access design, as well as an overhead sidewalk protection system, special gantry mono-rail hoists at the parapets, and special crane permits for weekend access due to the building height and congested location.
The work included a deep cleaning of the entire facade with a low-pressure water wash, removing ferrous stains, and biologic staining. Many of the stains had to be treated with a chemical poultice multiple times to free them from the stone. Rugo also performed re-pointing the limestone in selected areas due to failing mortar joints. We also had to remove all the massive roof stone copings, so new flashing and waterproofing could be applied to the parapets. We replaced 25 embedded limestone panels with matching existing color and texture, replaced alley elevation face brick, restored the existing original lobby stone walls, and installed a new marble lobby floor.
This project was very challenging due to the design of the set back elevations. All work was completed on time, with superior quality, and no lost-time accidents.
Location: Washington, DC
Completion: 2016
Owner: First Potomac Realty Trust
Architect: Byer Blinder Belle Architects & Plannes LLP
General Contractor: Hitt Contracting
Size: 58,000 sq ft
Services: Provide suspended scaffold access to clean, repoint, replace stone façade
