Colorado Springs Day Nursery Window Restoration
Why
Since the Colorado Springs Day Nursery was conceived in 1897 and opened in 1924, it has served Colorado Springs families with cost-effective, high quality child care and early education. Located in south downtown, the beautiful Tudor revival building is on the National Register of Historic Places. As expected for a historic building, the Colorado Springs Day Nursery has gone through various phases of maintenance and repair. In the 1990s, acrylic storm windows were installed to shield the building's iconic art glass from hail storms and vandalism. Over the years, these panels began to become opaque, rendering the leaded glass obscured when viewed from the exterior of the building and reducing the amount of daylight that reached the rooms full of children.
How
Working closely with the Colorado Historical Society and The Preservation Studio, RTA documented the finely detailed windows and specified the rehabilitation of the deteriorated leaded glass panels of the operable casement windows used for ventilation. The same kind of work was done for several of the fixed windows that had deteriorated or sustained damage. Finally, new protective glazing was designed to protect the rehabilitated windows and provide greater energy efficiency along with window screen repair. Unique, finely crafted wood doors were also repaired and refinished in the first phase.
What
Extensive off-site restoration was performed by Denver Art Glass on 116 leaded and stained-glass windows and additional in-place repair work on another 35 simpler wood windows and 11 doors, returning them much as they were upon the building’s completion in 1924. Protective covers of tempered glass were placed on the exterior of all rehabilitated windows to ensure their durability against adverse weather. With the window rehabilitation and millwork repair completed on the first floor, the building has increased ventilation without the fear of damaging the operable windows, and the students and staff of the Colorado Springs Day Nursery are able to enjoy more natural daylight through the beautiful stained and leaded glass.
The second phase, set for 2019 - 2020 will accomplish the same goals for windows on the second floor.
Project Details
- Size: 130 windows
- Project cost: $433,000
Design Details
- Occupied during construction
- Window restoration of a historic building
- Improved daylighting
- Coordination with Colorado Historic Society