Architectural Restoration

Towne House Restorations & Polytek®
Give New York a Facelift

Over the years, Towne House Restorations (THR) of Maspeth, NY, has been responsible for restoring and renovating many of the most architecturally unique and significant buildings in New York City and the surrounding area. Whether the medium is brownstone, limestone, terra-cotta, plaster, or stone, the artists, moldmakers, and casters at THR have reproduced and restored it to match its original beauty. Newly cast parts are made from cast stone, glass-fiber-reinforced concrete (GFRC), and glass-fiber-reinforced gypsum (GRG) to appear original in every way. Polytek® Liquid Mold Rubbers have been routinely used by Towne House Restorations to recreate ornamental architectural elements in theaters such as the Lyric and Ed Sullivan, museums such as the Metropolitan, and hotels like the Plaza and Ansonia, as well as numerous churches, schools, private residences, mansions, and other varied buildings well known to the public.
THR has utilized an array of Poly Liquid Rubbers, the most popular being Polygel® 40, Polygel® 50, and Poly 74-40. Polygels® are used for brush-on molds that can be created on-site where a mold must be made from an element before it is removed from the building. The removal of some aged elements may cause too much damage, making site-molding the only way to capture the original before its final demise. Polygel® is ideal for this purpose, since it is designed specifically as a brush-on product that eliminates the need to use a third-component thickening agent.



				Philip Gallagher of THR displays a Poly 74-40 polyurethane mold that was used to recreate aging architectural brackets found on the 13th-floor balcony of the Ansonia Hotel in upper Manhattan. Also shown are a few of the cast GFRC replacement brackets that await shipment and installation.



	The Ansonia Hotel, located in upper Manhattan at 73rd and Broadway, is just one of the strikingly ornate buildings that have been restored in part with the services of THR and liquid mold rubbers from Polytek®.

Polygel® systems consist of two low-viscosity liquids which, when mixed, blend easily together to insure uniform mixing, then gel to a thixotropic state with a 10- to 15-minute working time. The fact that no additional thickener is needed makes Polygel® easy to use and perfect, say, when working on scaffolding 15 stories up on the outside of a building on a windy day.
Once a mold of the original is made, either on-site or in the shop, a casting is taken, and the artists and sculptors go to work. They meticulously recreate any eroded or missing detail, based on other parts of the original still in good shape, historical photographs, etc. Once the master is completed, a mold is made of it. For this purpose, THR uses Poly 74-40, which is a midrange-hardness (Shore A-40), pourable rubber that is commonly used for GFRC, plaster, and precast-concrete casting. Other popular rubbers useful for this purpose are new Poly 74-44 (slightly firmer, very stretchy) and Polygel® Spray 50 (a sprayable system for large blanket-molding applications). From this new mold, reproductions can be made. Since many architectural features repeat on a building, a mold such as this may be used over and over again to replicate the master in exacting detail.


	Located at 235 West 75th Street in Manhattan, this original copper cornice was entirely restored using a green-colored GFRC mix. Complex angles and varying configurations kept THR on their toes.


	Very often the first step involves a site survey by a member of the THR team. This provides the necessary measurements so reproduced parts will be to scale and have the proper mounting assembly. Sometimes site molds are made while hanging from the sides of these buildings—don't try this if you're afraid of heights!

With all of the aging buildings in New York City alone, we'll be sure to keep on the lookout for more artistry and craftsmanship from Towne House Restorations. Keep up the good work! For additional information on state-of-the-art pourable, brushable, and sprayable liquid mold rubbers for all concrete and plaster casting applications, contact Polytek® Development Corp. at (610) 559-8620 or email sales@polytek.com.