Originally built in the 1920s, the Bowen Building is a historic building in Washington DC, just blocks from the White House. Its historic building facade was deemed irreplaceable, so the developer designed a facade retention system tying the new structural frame that housed a deeper parking garage to the historic facade.
The plan called for Rugo to catalog and dismantle much of the side elevations and cornice line, which consisted of roughly 36,000 sqft of architectural terracotta and limestone. Once cataloged, Rugo restored and re-erected the dismantled portion of the facade and cleaned, patched, and re-pointed the entire original Beaux-Arts architectural facade.
In addition, Rugo furnished and installed over 24,000 sqft of marble, limestone, and ceramic tile throughout the main lobby, core bathrooms, and other gathering rooms throughout the building. Rugo developed special procedures for handling historic ornamental stone urns, carved elements, portals, and veneers. The scope of Rugo’s work involved precision cutting, grinding, and polishing of intricate decorative marble and limestone elements, all performed by hand. The project is considered a true preservation success.
Location: Washington, DC
Completion Date: 2006
Owner: Vornado
Architect: Hartman Cox Architects
General Contractor: Sigal Construction
Services Performed: Consultation, Restoration, dismantling & re-install, furnish & install.
Size: 60,355 Sqft
