Historic Window Replacements Require Extra Planning

Window jobs can be serious headaches for co-op and condo boards. The challenges run the gamut – preparing residents for major disruptions, inspecting apartments, choosing window specifications and vendors, orchestrating the work schedules, getting approvals and, of course, figuring out how to pay for the job. If the building happens to be in a historic district, the headache can shade toward a migraine. 

Just ask the board at the six-story co-op at 470 Convent Avenue, a landmarked building in Harlem’s Hamilton Heights/Sugar Hill Historic District. While doing facade work, the board decided to replace all windows because it suspected that masonry defects around the windows were contributing to air and water leaks.

To get approval from Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) to replace the windows, boards often have to file a master plan. It sets forth standards for future changes and identifies them by drawings, including large scale-details of existing and proposed conditions, plus the design and location of proposed changes. For 470 Convent Avenue, a master plan was not required but the process was prolonged because available historical photographs of the property didn’t show the window details closely enough, says Albelisa Kemp, senior project associate at RAND Engineering & Architecture, the firm the co-op hired to oversee its window replacement. 

A director at LPC located a historic photo of the building through the Museum of the City of New York. “Through their online archives you could zoom in to see the historic configuration and details of the windows,” Kemp says. The original windows had been simple, bronze-colored, one-over-one paned windows, but RAND proposed a design consisting of six small, double-hung panes on top and one single pane on the bottom. When the historic photo showed the finish to be lighter than the finish on the facade, LPC asked RAND to examine each window for any remaining wooden elements. Finding original trim with paint on it on one fire-rated window, RAND ordered a paint analysis from Jablonski Building Conservation. Jablonski recommended a light beige color thought to best match the original paint. The LPC approved. 

Hiring an architect who understands how the LPC works “takes a lot of pressure off of a board,” says Shay Gines, the board president at 470 Convent Avenue. She suggests allotting at least six months for LPC approval before ordering windows from a manufacturer. And since the optimal time to install windows is during the spring and summer months, boards need to start the process well in advance to minimize the inevitable headaches.