Making Your Own View

When a 40 ft concrete parapet ruins a spectacular view of the golden Gate Bridge for the penthouse of a Russian Hill high rise, there are not many options open.

Removing the parapet from the 19th floor needed very innovative and skilful solutions. The owners of the penthouse had been looking for a contracting team to remove this wall on the western exposure and replace it with railings that matched the other [patios for over ten years.

“This was a very complex and dangerous contract,” said Larry Weber, CEO of Nichols concrete Cutting, who tackled the task. “Working on the 19th floor and cutting away the safety parapet was quite a challenge. We had to come up with some unusual solutions to pull this off.”

Cutting concrete at this height is not a simple task.

The key was finding creative solutions to all theproblems of working at this height in a penthouse of this caliber. Unlike working in a house, everything had to taken in and out of the apartment.

And the owners are serious art collectors so all the construction work had to carried out without damaging or compromising any of the exquisite interiors or valuable works.

Jeff Rexford of Bashland Builders put together the full team for the renovation. The electrical connections in the apartment could not run the concrete cutting equipment so Bashland had to provide a generator on the street with an extension cable running 19 floors up the side of the building

The Nichols crew were fearless, incredibly professional and on the ball,” said Rexford. The parapet came down smoothly and the new railings went up with no hitches – on time.”

Now when they sit in their penthouse, the owners have that spectacular exposure to the Golden Gate Bridge they always wanted.

 

Additional Articles:

Daily Pacific Builder

San Mateo County Times - Bay Area Living