The details are incredible throughout the building, down to the design of the original seating chart that hangs in the Women’s Lounge. Our first phase included the restoration of 19 small panels, but all of the windows in the building have come of age and in need of repair..

Getting the windows out was a challenge. The only removable stops were the length of the large arches, and those were nailed with about 35 nails each. (Thanks, turn of the century carpenter!!) Due to what turned out to be some very strange construction, the remaining interior woodwork had to be removed to get the panels out.

Back at the shop, we got to work on the documentation, disassembly and cleaning of the windows. It’s a dirty task, but beyond rewarding when you are back to clean glass. There was quite a bit of broken glass, but we found a really good match for the clear texture. We even had some old solarized glass to match some of the light purple. The replacement glass is indistinguishable from the original.

Each panel was fully releaded and the sashes restored, before the panels were reglazed into them.

From there we returned them to Claremont and enjoyed a comparatively smooth installation, (now that we’d solved a lot of problems from the removal.) We hope to start Phase 2 in 2022. If you’re ever in the area, make sure to get a look at them. It’s a fantastic building.