The first Carnegie Library of Washington D.C. is a fine example of adaptive reuse

I think after 115 years, this building has found its ideal app. Vibrant in the mid-century, automobile traffic soon isolated it from pedestrian access. In 1977, the library was moved to what is now an important landmark building as well, and since that time, various museum plans have come and gone. This Beaux-Arts structure is honestly not the best built monumental building we have helped restore in this town, but a good cleaning and good fix-up have wiped the slate clean and I think now this will be one of Apple’s best stores.

North elevation—we reproduced all of these windows that had been basically destroyed through neglect and bad insulating glass retrofit.

The front doors revealed the building’s challenged history. Somewhat ill-fitting modern design was modified and repaired over the century so that restoration was no longer sensible. We generated new details and design after a careful exploration of the existing door’s components. New doors are 2 1/2” solid oak hung on the original bronze hinges.

For its vintage, It was a surprise the building contained plain sawn red oak and not the then widely available chestnut. The laminations that comprised this overly wide bottom rail had failed, thus replacement was the only reasonable option.

Existing doors revealed a plywood core likely from the year 2000.

The history of preservation and modernization of old buildings is something like two steps forward, one step back. At Carnegie, the city negotiated window improvements for allowing the Convention Center construction team to use the property. Someone specified an insulating glass conversion to the hundred year old sash. It was this work and not the 100 years of service that basically destroyed the windows. Here, the insulating glass is set in the historic window with careless and irregular machining and worse, set in traditional glazing putty. Of course, as the paint film decayed, capillary action occurred and moisture got to the seal in the insulating glass precipitating its failure.

The window frames on site were severely compromised in the 2001 restoration/destruction. Wrong materials and techniques had rendered the original millwork not just dysfunctional, but basically not improvable. This image displays the destructive techniques necessary to remove the reglazed sash. We replaced this jamb and 100 more with reproductions of the actual original.

Modern sealants are amazing materials and essential to the flush conditions of modern architecture. They should however be used with discretion on historic buildings. The misuse of this polysulfide sealant at Carnegie contributed heavily to the destruction of historic fabric. Sometimes too good is just that.

The center pivot sash were easy and charming to use. We had looked forward to operating our reproduction sash by remote control through your Apple iPhone. However, owners decided to leave sash fixed.

Center pivot bronze hardware at Carnegie. More on this unusual hinge in our hardware segment.

One hundred twenty year old bronze before.

The windows at Carnegie were caulked shut, some in the late 1970s. These hinges hadn’t worked since.

Apple was not much interested in material patinas. Hardware on right is original center-pivot hinge. Other components here pictured are modern bronze.

Simple, durable, and elegant. I have only otherwise seen this center-pivot hinge at the Corcoran School of Art, same vintage as Carnegie. This hinge makes for a robust mount and will endure public service much longer than a butt hinge.

One hundred twenty years hardware after soft media tumbling and cleaning.

The original center-pivot sash were rendered weak and unusable by the modifications for insulating glass in 2000. We restored just these few so that they would remain as a record of the building’s original construction. All other windows of this type were reproduced in Sapele Mahogany.

The new window frames at Carnegie were reproduced in the original size, details, and joinery.

The sash at Carnegie reproduced the originals in their primary component sizes, but were machined for insulating glass and flush sticking at the interior.

At Apple, the exterior received a dark green acrylic paint and the interior’s were stained and lacquered.

Apple spent a tremendous amount on this building, this is the now Genius Grove on the north side. Major structural work, all new stone surfaces, new skylight, and new reproduction windows now finish this space. Apple even undid some changes from the 1970s and later which now provide for the large center hall.

South-facing doors were no longer strong enough or flat enough to provide service at a modern retail establishment. We built new solid Sapele doors, restored the leaded glass in transom above using the original hinges and modern custom-made pulls from Apple.