38 Gramercy Park North
New York, New York
 Restoration completed 2011

Scott Henson Architect LLC recently completed work at 38 Gramercy Park North including a full façade restoration, window replacement, roof replacement, the addition of a terrace, and awning and lighting design. 

38 Gramercy Park North was originally constructed in the mid-1800’s as three separate buildings, including two private residences and a Neo-Italianate hotel.  In the early 1920’s, the three buildings were converted to a single structure. By 2007, the Neo-Tudor façade, which was applied during the unification of the three buildings, was in severe disrepair.   

Once inspections commenced, Scott Henson Architect LLC determined that the facade’s half-timber and stucco cladding were beyond repair.  It was important for all involved that the building façade be brought back to a level of mid-19th century authenticity, while remaining sensitive to the surrounding aesthetic environment through elegant and straightforward gestures.  In order to restore details such as the stone base, water table, window sills and lintels, and stone cornice, new cast-stones were created to match the original brownstone, revealed during the removal of the deteriorated stucco.    

A particularly challenging aspect of the project was the absence of a continuous defining line for the building, resulting from the union of three disparate buildings in the early 1900’s.  As a solution, new face brick was installed to create a straight, level and plumb façade.  A survey of the neighborhood buildings constructed during the same era was performed and utilized in the selection of the building’s new face brick, mortar color and joint size.   

The back-up masonry was found to be severely deteriorated in some areas.  The project team’s solution was a combination of through-wall brick reconstruction in areas beyond repair, and the injection of mortar into back-up masonry in order to stabilize the wall.   

Several details were recreated from historic photos using copper, including a new copper cornice to match the original sheet metal cornice and the existing turret was reconstructed and sheathed in copper with details extracted from the copper cornice.

More photos of 38 Gramercy       38 Gramercy in 1910      GNA Award of Excellence       Letters of Recommendation

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