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Restoration and renovation work are a significant percentage of architectural work being done in New York City. As a firm, Stephen B. Jacobs Group PC has completed hundreds of these types of projects in the past fifty years; from the Cast Iron Building in 1974, to Brooklyn brownstones in the 1980s, to the Long Island City Courthouse in 2007, to more recently and currently renovating landmarked buildings into high-end boutique office spaces, residential apartments, and schools. Existing buildings have such embodied energy that in many cases it makes economical and moral sense to repurpose them for contemporary uses.
Historical buildings come in many different types and shapes. A few years ago, between 2012 and 2016, Stephen B. Jacobs Group had the privilege of working on the renovation of the Knickerbocker Telephone Company Building at 200 Lafayette Street in Soho. Stephen B. Jacobs Group, along with Scott Henson Architect, earned the 2017 Palladio Award for Adaptive Reuse/Sympathetic Addition for this project.
The building, originally constructed in 1894 by architect and builder John T. illiams, is a 105,000-square-foot, seven-story, Renaissance-Revival style, factory-style structure located within what is today the Soho Cast Iron Historic District. The exterior of the building consists of brick, brownstone, and cast iron, with a substantial sheet-metal cornice, wood windows and storefronts.
Stephen B. Jacobs Group converted the building into prime showroom...