Project:
222 West Rittenhouse Square (Completed by S. Harris Ltd.)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
(formerly known as the Chateau Crillon Apartment House)
Client:
Sentinel Real Estate Corporation
Dates:
2011 City Façade Ordinance Inspection
2011- 2012 Design and Documentation & Construction Contract Administration
Description:
Designed by Horace Trumbauer in the Lombardic Romanesque style, 1928. 222 West Rittenhouse Square is a fully functioning and occupied twenty-seven story residential high rise building. It is steel framed and clad in yellow brick with aluminum windows throughout. At 320 feet above grade, the chateau boasts a green Spanish tile hipped roof topped with copper clad spires. Ornate terra cotta and limestone details decorate the façade.
Challenge:
S. Harris Ltd. was originally retained to conduct a facade inspection in compliance with the City of Philadelphia’s Façade Inspection Ordinance (Bill No. 090568-AAA), during which we discovered cracking on several terra cotta oriels. During the inspection, we observed open mortar joints, terra cotta cracking and displacement, and material loss.
The unsupported material had the potential to collapse to the street level which prompted a sidewalk closure and reconstruction of the oriels in kind. In addition to the oriels, various other issues were discovered and stabilized: corroded steel lintels and spandrel beams, comprehensive masonry stabilization at the southwest corner, and masonry stabilization between the 26th-28th floors.
Points of Interest:
National Register of Historic Places, 1978
Philadelphia Register of Historic Places, 1982
Historic Rittenhouse and Fitler Square district, 1995
