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When the Lunt-Fontanne Theater, long a shining light of New York City’s legendary Broadway theater district, was recently renovated, there was a rich history to preserve. A National Historic Landmark building, the Lunt-Fontanne is the only remaining theater built by famed architects Carrere and Hastings.
Built in 1909-1910, and originally named the Globe, the building was converted to a movie house after the Depression. In 1958 the interior was renovated and it was officially renamed the Lunt-Fontanne Theater, in honor of legendary husband and wife acting team Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne.
With an expertise in restoring older buildings, 3J’s Building Maintenance, Inc., headquartered in Massapequa, New York and with offices in Manhattan, was the perfect choice to handle the intricate exterior restoration of this eight-story, Beaux-Arts structure.
Artie Forman, president of 3J’s, explains the challenges. “There was a logistical hurdle because while the restoration was going on there were eight live shows per week and much of the work area was at street level,” he notes.
The cement, limestone and brick exterior was layered with at least 70 coats of paint, including oil-based and latex. Though records are incomplete, it is believed that the building’s exterior had not been completely stripped since 1909.
“Sandblasting was never a consideration, as it would damage the stone and decorative work. The engineers wanted a chemical paint remover, and since the theater was in use, I wanted a product that was safe to use, fume-free, and could handle this many layers of paint without damaging the substrates,” explains Forman.
Of the two chemical removal products patch-tested, Peel Away® 1, from Dumond Chemicals, Inc., was the clear winner. “The other product dripped, was very messy to work with, didn’t work as quickly, and just couldn’t handle the stubborn layers of paint on a job like this,” says Forman.
Peel-Away® 1 is a poultice system that works by controlling evaporation while enabling quick, effective and easy removal of multiple layers of paint. Here, it was applied by hand, trowel and brush, with the laminated Peel Away® paper layered over it. Allowed to dwell for 72 hours, the paper was then peeled away, and with it, the bulk of the still-damp paint.
Staggered crews applied Peel Away® 1 in the morning and removed it at night, followed by a power wash of clean water. The surface was prepped and primed with the Sherwin-Williams Loxon product before application of a Lastic coating. Approximately 3,000 square feet of paint were removed and the building re-coated in just five weeks.
About 7,500 square feet of crumbling stucco covered the front of the building from the ground to the sixth floor. Like the rest of the building’s exterior, it had been compromised by the passage of years and exposure to pollution and other airborne contaminants. The stucco was removed with demolition hammers, and the brick beneath repaired before new stucco was applied.
“This job called for a lot of fabricating as well,” notes Forman, whose crews broke down the ornate zinc cornices on the 4th and 6th floor, in order to create a rubber mold and recast the pieces using fiber reinforced plastic (FRP). Once fabricated, the duplicate cornices were remounted and coated with Lastic.
A similar process was required for the bases of the eight stone columns adorning the facade. “We went from rubber mold, to plastic mold, to permanent mold in order to duplicate the column bases,” says Forman. Glass fiber reinforced concrete (GFRC) was used to fabricate the new column bases, as it was for the severely compromised decorative angels that offset the brooding gargoyles on the building’s front.
“This was a demanding historic restoration, but with a building this special, you pull out all the stops,” reports Forman, who had never used Peel Away® 1 prior to this project.
“Never having used it, I was somewhat skeptical until we ran the patch tests, but Peel Away® outperformed my expectations on this project,” Forman comments.
The engineering staff was V.S.A. Associates, New York, NY.
Established in 1975, 3J’s Building Maintenance, Inc. specializes in landmark restorations including historic York Properties and others throughout the metropolitan area.
Peel Away® 1 is one of a full line of masonry restoration and paint-removal products manufactured by Dumond Chemicals, Inc. Headquartered in New York, Dumond products are available through a network of nationwide distributors and paint stores.
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