Old Republic Building - exterior restoration

The Old Republic Building is a Landmarked 1925, 23-story building designed by Vitzthum and Burns and contributes to the Michigan-Wacker Historic District. The building is clad in light buff glazed terra cotta with Classical Revival ornamentation. Over the decades, movement and unsuccessful repairs and had deteriorated the façade. Issues included saw grinding and patching of terra cotta face cracks, replacement of fractured terra cotta pieces with limestone, and mortar patching of missing ornamentation. The cornice was upturned at the corners due to unresolved movement in the façade. The original large second floor steel windows had deteriorated to an unrepairable state. The original upper story double-hung windows had substantial surface rust. A 1950’s mechanical shed at the penthouse level was in severely deteriorated condition. The restoration was multi-faceted and entailed work across all exterior surfaces, with 26,000 pieces of terra cotta repaired/replaced across the structure. The cornice and its steel structure were removed entirely and reconstructed. To relieve stress in the façade, the corners were removed in their entirety and rebuilt. Shelf angles were replaced or cleaned and recoated. The original steel windows were stripped and refinished. The large 2nd floor steel windows were newly re-fabricated by Crittall in the UK. The mechanical penthouse was re-skinned with a modern metal panel system.