Case Studies

Belden-Stratford

Chicago, IL
The Belden-Stratford marked its 100th birthday in October of 2023, yet it appears untouched by time. It has recently been reborn as an exclusive apartment building following an ambitious three year restoration backed by owner and Morningstar founder Joe Mansueto. The 16-story landmarked structure, originally a luxury hotel, overlooks the Lincoln Park Conservatory and the…
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Jefferson Center

Toledo, OH
“I know this sounds like something a salesman would say, but the earlier you get us involved, the smoother the project will go,” says Tim Davis, president of AR Design, a Graham Architectural Products rep and a window designer. For proof, he points to the rehabilitation of the Jefferson Center in Toledo, Ohio. Opened in…
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The Battery

Philadelphia, PA
Architect Chris Kenney calls it “a marvelous, neo-classical historic structure.” Bill Wilder, Graham Architectural Products’ director of technical sales, calls it, “a beast.” “It” is the former Delaware Power Station of the Philadelphia Electric Company (PECO) on the west bank of the Delaware River. It is an adaptive reuse megaproject which, according to Fastrack Construction…
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Hotel Drover

Fort Worth, TX
Fort Worth, Texas, was the last stop on the Chisholm Trail for drovers seeking rest and supplies by the Trinity River as they led cattle north to the railheads in Kansas. More than four million head of cattle passed through the city from 1866 to 1890. In the 1870s, the railroad arrived, and the city…
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Residential Colleges At Vanderbilt University

Nashville, TN
Vanderbilt University’s residential colleges stand as a testament to what can be accomplished when a bold vision and an uncompromising pursuit of excellence is brought to life through team-wide collaboration. “I think what stands out to me the most is that this is the kind of quality and craftsmanship you might see 100 years ago,”…
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Escondido Village Graduate Residences, Stanford University

Palo Alto, CA
Only 55% of Stanford University’s more than 9,000 graduate students are able to reside in on-campus housing. The Escondido Village Graduate Residences will add 2,400 beds, increasing the graduate on-campus housing rate to 75%. But on-campus construction has unique challenges, including limitations in onsite parking, delivery locations, and access. And since students live near the…
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49-51 Chambers

New York City, NY
A lot of companies say they overcome challenges. Graham Architectural Products really does. Consider the windows in Lower Manhattan’s lustrous 49 Chambers building. When constructed as the Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank in 1912, it was the largest bank building in the United States. The 17-story structure featured curved glass windows in 140 of its nearly…
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Alden Park

Philadelphia, PA
At one time, Alden Park was one of Philadelphia’s most exclusive addresses. Built on a 38-acre, park-like setting in 1926, the three-building, six-tower complex sits high on a hill where it commands views of center city and Fairmount Park. Its beauty and location made it an address of distinction and, at certain points in time,…
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10 Provost Street

Jersey City, NJ
Martin Stroble, PE, is a project manager at Toll Brothers City Living, a company that for five years in a row has been named Fortune magazine’s #1 Home Builder Worldwide. He recently took time to reflect on the partnership between his company and Graham Architectural Products, and the many ways in which Graham helped to…
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Thomas Edison Battery Building (a.k.a, The Residences at Edison Lofts)

West Orange, NJ
By the turn of the 21st century, the Thomas Edison Battery Building was the last of the renowned inventor’s factories still standing. But it was clearly on its last legs, abandoned and neglected after nearly 100 years of existence in West Orange, NJ. “It was bad,” says Stephen Torell, PE, LEED AP, senior project manager…
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University of Michigan Law School

Ann Arbor, Michigan
The University of Michigan Law School stands like a moment frozen in time. Constructed around a quadrangle more than 80 years ago, the quintessentially collegiate structures are clad in granite and the open spaces shaded by trees. But growing enrollment, a desire to consolidate disparate offices and departments, and the demands of a new technological…
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Hughes High School

Cincinnati, Ohio
Tim Davis, project manager for AR Design and a longtime Graham Architectural Products representative, says experience has taught him one indisputable truth: When it comes to historic renovations, an architect can never talk to a window manufacturer’s rep too early. Consider the renovation of Cincinnati’s Hughes High School. With its classic features, striking gargoyles and…
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Francis L. Cardozo High School

Washington, D.C.
When the US Green Building Council’s Maryland and National Capital Region Chapters went looking for a place to hold their 2014 DC NoVA MD Green School Summit, one location stood out above the rest: Francis L. Cardozo Senior High School in Washington, D.C. Built nearly a century ago and listed on the National Register of…
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The Athenaeum

Cincinnati, Ohio
Architect Bill Watson had worked with Tim Davis, project manager for AR Design and a Graham Architectural Products rep, on a number of occasions. So Tim’s name popped immediately to mind when Bill was in the midst of the library renovation at The Athenaeum of Ohio, which required one louver to be replaced with a…
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University Hall, University of Toledo

Toledo, OH
Built in 1931, University Hall stands as the University of Toledo’s most iconic building, its stately clock tower overlooking all campus activity. In the buildings surrounding it, the university has been replacing windows with an eye toward energy efficiency, but with no real concern for architectural detail. In the building itself, that mindset changed. “They…
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Edman Memorial Chapel

Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL
You don’t have to order thousands of windows to get the full attention of the Graham Architectural Products (GAP) team. Take Edman Chapel and its gorgeous auditorium on the campus of Wheaton College in Wheaton, IL. John Andretich, Graham’s architectural sales and Chicago business development manager, had worked with the College on several occasions, first…
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Hercules

Canton, Ohio
Three longtime teammates have collaborated on the adaptive reuse of the Hercules Engine Plant. Together, they are turning a series of two- and three-story buildings on an abandoned industrial site in Canton, Ohio, into 90 high-end apartments. Sandvick Architects has, since its founding in 1990, invigorated communities by finding new uses for underutilized buildings. Jamieson…
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Starrett-Lehigh

New York, NY
At 2.3 million square feet, the Starrett-Lehigh Building is larger than the Empire State Building. It occupies a full Manhattan city block, and is home to some of the world’s most recognizable brands – Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Club Monaco of the Ralph Lauren Corporation, and Tommy Hilfiger USA. In 1986, it was named a…
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Artist Lofts

Manitowoc, Wisconsin
The Mirro Aluminum Company was once the world’s largest manufacturer of aluminum cookware. In its eight plants in three states, it produced an array of aluminum products, from pots and pans, and coffee pots, to  saucer sleds, sheds and siding. For years, Mirro Plant #3, built in 1929, was a center of Mirro manufacturing in…
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Cable Mills Apartments

Williamstown, Massachusetts
It took 14 years, three developers, and the unveiling of a new window design from Graham Architectural Products, but Cable Mills, nestled along the banks of the Green River in Williamstown, MA, is now open and looking marvelous. The project, an adaptive reuse of the one-time Water Street Mill built in 1873, “turn(ed) a decrepit…
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U.S Department of Commerce Building

Washington, DC
In 2007, the Office of Building Renovation was created to manage the Department of Commerce’s role in the Herbert C. Hoover Building (HCHB) Renovation Project — a one billion dollar project to renovate and modernize this historic building. The HCHB Renovation Project is planned in eight phases and is scheduled to be completed by 2021.…
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The Cigar Factory

Charleston, SC
As the site of what is thought to be the first singing of “We Shall Overcome” in a moment of civil rights and labor activism, the Cigar Factory in Charleston, SC, is more than just a striking old building. But it is that, too. It is, in fact, on the National Register of Historic Places.…
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Firestone Triangle Building

Akron, Ohio
Elizabeth Murphy is president of Chambers, Murphy & Burge Restoration Architects, Ltd., a firm dedicated solely to preservation and restoration. She is also past chair of the Advisory Group for the American Institute of Architects National Committee on Historic Resources. She takes restoration seriously. So when Jamieson Ricca Windows asked Graham Architectural Products to match…
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Yonkers City Hall

Yonkers, NY
A stately old building high on a hill, Yonkers City Hall houses the classic courtroom that contained much of the action in My Cousin Vinny. In fact, says Michael DeRosa, Graham Architectural Products’ vice president of business and product development, “One of my meetings was in the court room, and I walked in and I…
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253-256 Broadway

New York, New York
For four decades, The New York Landmarks Conservancy has been at the forefront of efforts to preserve, restore, and reuse New York City’s wonderful architectural legacy. And each year, the Conservancy recognizes the City’s most outstanding efforts with the Lucy G. Moses Preservation Awards. The Moses Awards – called the “Preservation Oscars” – are named…
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Yost Ice Arena, University of Michigan

Ann Arbor, MI
When constructed in 1923, the University of Michigan's Yost Field House was the largest indoor building of its kind on any campus in the United States. Over the years it showcased a lot of elite Wolverine athletes, including the great Michigan track teams of the '50s and the Cazzie Russell-led basketball teams of the '60s,…
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1900 Arch St.

Philadelphia, PA
Asked to design the new mixed-use high-rise slated for construction on Arch Street in Center City Philadelphia, the architectural firm Varenhorst decided to “optimize constructability” by incorporating a modular structural wall system. They turned to R-Tech Panel Systems, a Wilmington, NJ, manufacturer, which according to its owner Mark Saunders, “had always kind of flown under…
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525 @ Vine

Winston-Salem, NC
The Roaring Twenties are remembered for a lot of things, but energy efficient windows are not among them. Architectural designers of the era were not concerned with conserving energy, especially when it came to factory/warehouse facilities, the original function of the 525@Vine building, in Winston-Salem, NC. Designed and built for use as factory work spaces…
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The Old Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, King

St. Louis, MO
The Basilica of St. Louis, King, now known as the Old Cathedral, oozes history. Completed in 1834, the Old Cathedral became the first cathedral west of the Mississippi River. It is the fourth church to stand on the site of the original log chapel, which was dedicated at the time the parish was founded in…
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St. Louis University Museum of Art

St. Louis, MO
In commercial window sales, there are a number of ways to find opportunities, not the least of which is the good, old-fashioned cold call. That’s how Jack Hornsey, an independent sales rep, began his relationship with Saint Louis University, a relationship that led to Graham Architectural Products (GAP) replacing 546 windows at the University’s Museum…
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ICON, 1616 Walnut Street

Philadelphia, PA
The economics were clear. Office space was renting out at about $26 a foot, while apartments were going for about $34. So investors decided to convert their spectacular 1616 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, high rise from office space to luxury residential. This required a significant amount of renovation and, because the building was one of the…
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Convention Hall

Asbury Park, New Jersey
Hurricane Sandy hammered New Jersey. At one point, more than 2.6 million residents were without power. The storm was responsible for the deaths of nearly 40 people. Hundreds of thousands of homes were damaged or destroyed. In the coastal community of Asbury Park, the raging winds and pounding surf demolished buildings and tore up roughly…
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1500 Locust Street

Philadelphia, PA
Some jobs are easier than others: The assignment is relatively clear-cut; there are no unexpected surprises; the team clicks; and everyone walks away happy. Take, for example, Center City Philadelphia’s 1500 Locust Apartments, a 44-floor building steps away from the theater district and Rittenhouse Square. The building was privately held and the owner wasn’t looking…
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Rivergate / View 34

New York, New York
Transforming the Rivergate apartment building into View 34, a new destination for upscale living in New York City, required a lot of work – not the least of which involved replacing nearly 3,900 windows and 400 doors. Graham Architectural Products (GAP) fulfilled that part of the mission, overcoming some significant hurdles along the way. The…
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Community Within the Corridor

Milwaukee, WI
In 1960, the highest standard of living for African Americans in the United States was enjoyed by those living in the neighborhoods surrounding Milwaukee’s 30th Street Corridor. Industry flourished and, even in 1970, a higher percentage of Blacks worked in industrial jobs there than in Detroit. “It was the heartbeat of the city,” says Que…
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