As we start 2011, Vertical Access would like to thank our clients with whom we have collaborated by in the past year by highlighting ten projects completed in 2010.

The first project, performed in January 2010, is the Brown Tower at Union Theological Seminary in New York, NY. Union Theological Seminary (UTS) was constructed in 1910 and is comprised of a quadrangle of connected structures. It was designed by Allen & Collens, who later designed nearby Riverside Church, in a Collegiate Gothic style. The Brown Tower rises from the southeast corner of the UTS quadrangle. Like the adjoining buildings of the seminary, the exterior masonry is Manhattan schist with limestone trim and ornament.

Working for the New York office of Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Vertical Access performed a hands-on investigation of the tower’s four facades. Because of concerns about the attachment of cast stone pinnacles at the four corner spires and other projecting elements, hands-on access was critical to perform the investigation. Vertical Access documented existing conditions at the pinnacles and other areas of the exterior masonry using TPAS. Three VA technicians were on site for two days, to complete the work.

Union Theological Seminary Brown Tower, photography by Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc.