New York, NY
Vertical Access was retained by FS Project Management to perform a hands-on investigation of selected areas of the exterior of 63 Wall Street in order to assist Howard L. Zimmerman Architects with a scoping study of the building.
Building description
Also known as the Wall and Hanover Building, 63 Wall Street was designed by Delano & Aldrich and completed in 1929 as the headquarters of Brown Brothers & Company, a private bank that became Brown Brothers Harriman & Company in 1931. The bank operated at 63 Wall Street until 2003 when the building was converted to residential units. The building is 37 stories tall with several setbacks. The lowest four floors are clad in limestone with restrained neo-classical ornament, while the upper floors are primarily clad with iron spot brick with limestone parapets and window sills. Copper sheet metal grotesques in the shape of flying fish project from the limestone piers on the north, west and south façades at the 37th floor. Above the 37th floor is a double-hipped, lead-coated copper standing seam roof topped with cresting.
Challenges
- Perform a hands-on survey of exterior façades with minimal impact on building tenants and public.
- Provide survey deliverables with a fast turnaround to accommodate repair work already underway.
Solutions
- Used industrial rope access to gain hands-on access to designated areas of the building façades.
- Documented notable and representative conditions with digital photographs hyperlinked to annotated AutoCAD drawings.