Historic district window replacement required unique solutions

Real Estate Weekly, July 19, 2000 by Stephen Varone

Brooklyn Heights, bounded by the East River, Fulton Street, Atlantic Avenue and Court Street, is an old, low-rise residential neighborhood of tree-lined streets and an abundance of brick, brownstone and even wood houses. With the completion of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1883, Brooklyn Heights became conveniently linked to Manhattan and, as a result, became New York's first suburb. In 1965, it also became the city's first Historic District in an effort to preserve the facades of its buildings from aesthetically inappropriate change.

On the corner of Hicks and Remsen Street, within the Brooklyn Heights Historic District, is a ten-story, brown and beige brick building. Erected as a rental in 1955, the property at 60 Remsen Street was converted to a cooperative of approximately 75 apartments in the late 1970s.

In the mid-90s, the building's board of directors sought to conscientiously document building conditions in order to assess the need for present and future capital improvements. Rand Engineering, P.C. was called upon to do an initial survey on the building's windows by Larry Malitzky of Galster Management, managing agent for 60 Remsen Street for the past fifteen years.

Rand's conclusions were that time and the environment had significantly deteriorated the original steel casement windows, which were rusted and showed signs of water penetration, such that the most appropriate alternative was complete replacement.

"Rand was highly recommended by Galster and we had successfully worked with them on small projects," said Fran Buchinsky, vice president of 60 Remsen Street's Board of Directors. "Though the windows were clearly obsolete, in a building of our relatively small size, capital improvements of this magnitude are very serious undertakings, so we asked Rand to provide information about their experience and credentials, particularly with regard to window replacements in landmark districts."

The Board of 60 Remsen Street did their homework over a period of time, collecting in-depth information from Stephen Varone, director of operations for Rand, and John Mahler, Rand's project architect, both of whom attended numerous Board meetings. Rand issued a report detailing the pros and cons of replacement versus repair and provided budgets for various alternatives to address the existing window problems.

"They shepherded us through the project," said Buchinsky. "As a Board member, you read a report but you're still a lay person. Rand provided the expert guidance we needed to really understand the process. The secret of success was to plan it through and ask all the right questions. We took some time but it was time well spent."

In 1998, the actual window replacement work began. One of the project's challenges was that the new windows had to meet with the approval of the Landmarks Preservation Commission while also meeting safety, cost, acoustical and strength requirements as well as other performance conditions.

"We were not required to replicate materials because of the height and size of the building, but we had to replicate the look," explained Mr. Mahler.

The Board obtained bids from a variety of window contractors and ultimately awarded the job to Skyline Windows, a division of S. Kraus Inc., a family-owned business founded in 1941. In addition to representing many well-known and respected national manufacturers of aluminum and wood windows, Skyline also does specialty design-build work, manufacturing its own line of double-hung, casement, tilt and turn windows and doors.

The Board and Rand selected a Skyline-manufactured aluminum casement window to replace the deteriorated steel. Aluminum windows were the preferred choice for numerous reasons: they don't rust like steel; they are thermally broken (meaning that cold or heat doesn't transfer all the way through); and they are cost competitive.

The original windows had single panes. The new windows had double paned, insulated glass which provides significant improvement in heat and air conditioning retention (ultimately decreasing utilities bills).

For windows on the south and west facades of the building which face the East River, a special heat-reflecting film (rather like a piece of invisible mylar) was used to reduce heat gain during the summer months and reduce glare throughout the year.

The approval process at the Landmarks Preservation Commission went smoothly. As per the Commission's guidelines, the windows were black on the outside (to preserve the original look) but, to soften the appearance, a different color was used inside.

The next challenge was installation of window guards (required by law for apartments with children under the age of 11,) that met the approval of the Health Department Window Falls Program but did not aesthetically detract from the building.

"The window guard was one of the details that came up in the middle of the project," said Ms. Buchinsky. "We have picture windows with casements which Would have need window guards that looked like prison bars. We hated the idea but knew that we could only use guards that were officially approved by the health Department."