Upper West Side Terra Cotta Façade Restoration
New York, N.Y.

Thornton Tomasetti completed a façade restoration of a 15-story terra cotta-clad residential building constructed in 1909. Corrosion of steel anchors led to significant cracking and spalling of the decorative terra cotta units. To complicate matters, stacked units forming vertical piers with no intermediate support were severely damaged from bearing loads for the full height of the wall. This drastic decay of historic materials called for a skilled and creative approach from the architect-contractor team. Our goal was to minimize replacement with new material and to salvage as much of the original as possible. The team removed each piece of damaged terra cotta and surgically reattached fragments using stainless steel threaded rods set in epoxy. Missing portions were reconstructed with patching compounds shaped to match the original design. Each unit was cleaned, patched areas were coated to match existing glazing and flashing membranes were added to prevent water infiltration. We designed a custom anchoring system to add intermediate support for the vertical piers. This approach allowed us to retain almost 90% of the damaged units and preserve the building’s original appearance. The resulting cost of the repairs was half of that of a replacement.