Skyline Restoration Receives Its Third Lucy G. Moses Preservation Award for One Wall Street
The One Wall Street Condominium Residences occupy an entire City block between Wall Street and Exchange Place and is the largest office-to-residential adaptive reuse conversion in New York.
“Our honorees showed a great faith in the City. And all the jobs the projects provided [gave] a needed boost to the economy. The projects also showed how fortunate we are to have a great wealth of skilled and dedicated preservation professionals,” said Peg Breen, president of the New York Landmarks Conservancy, introducing the organization’s 32nd annual Lucy G. Moses Preservation Awards subtitled “Celebrating Excellence” held on April 20, 2022, at The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in the Morningside Heights section of upper Manhattan.
Skyline Restoration, represented by President Stephan Andreatos, received the award for its signature work on the façade of One Wall Street.
Lilla Smith, director of architecture and design for building owner Macklowe Properties congratulated One Wall Street’s contractors, calling the honor “a wonderful acknowledgement of the commitment and dedication that our family of professionals, architects and engineers, contractors and artisans have invested over the last 8 years, repurposing and restoring the Ralph Walker design Art Deco 1930s landmark.”
The skyscraper plus an annex occupies an entire City block between Wall Street and Exchange Place and is the largest office-to-residential adaptive reuse conversion in New York. As the awards program notes, “The undulating Indiana Limestone was repaired. New faceted windows were installed after the cores were relocated.” This, in addition to restoring and adding stone that “mimics the historic fluted façade” was accomplished through the expertise of Skyline Restoration.
One Wall Street Project Manager Wilson Cajilima said that one of the great challenges of the project was conducting the work while the building remained fully active with many trades working at the same time. “We were in the financial district in one of the busiest areas, working on one of the tallest buildings. Complex scheduling had to be coordinated with the GC. Everything had to perform like clockwork to achieve the result,” he said. Part of the difficulty was placing the heavy stones in a highly trafficked building of great height. “We used different types of hoisting equipment, an interior hoist connected to an exterior one to achieve the installations,” said Skyline Restoration’s Project Manager.
The Indiana Limestone was restored, and approximately 600 stones, all different sizes and shapes, that had deteriorated beyond repair were replaced with new ones fabricated by Traditional Cut Stone in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. The fabricator followed 3D drawings with specifications created by Skyline Restoration and used raw materials from the original quarry located in Bloomington, Indiana, founded in 1926.
“We were able to blend and keep the historical factor of the building as we successfully matched the color, finish, and texture of the stones for all the floors. The job took a lot of time and patience,” said Justine Marie Collins Skyline Restoration’s Assistant Project Manager at One Wall Street, who explained that the new stones were weathered to replicate the appearance of the existing.
In addition to the limestone, the granite for the storefront which frames a glass curtain wall extending from the second to the eighth floor had to replicate the existing stone. Skyline Restoration provided a new granite header weighing over a ton and jam pieces at the Retail One entrance.
"Transforming One Wall Street into a mixed-use property called for overhauling the interior and exterior. The undulating Indiana Limestone façade was repaired. New faceted windows were installed after the cores were relocated. Additions are clad in pre-cast concrete that mimics the historic fluted facade."
As the One Wall Street project called for new windows and lighting for apartment units on the 30th floor that was originally commercial space, Skyline Restoration coordinated with the design team to execute a modification of the terrace. The sloped copper roof was removed, and notched stones were added around the spandrel that remained in place enabling extensions of the windows. Skyline Restoration also created 131 window openings and installed windowsills and headers plus the jam pieces.
This is the third time that Skyline Restoration has received the coveted award, known by some as the Oscar of the industry. Previous awards were received for the exterior restoration and preservation work on The McIntyre (874 Broadway) in 2010, and on the Lenox Health Greenwich Village (30 7th Ave) in 2017.
For a complete list of winners of the 2022 Lucy G. Moses Preservation Awards, please visit nylandmarks.org.
PHOTOS: ONEWALLTREET.COM