Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School

The project included a one-story glass and wood windows infill construction of the existing porch walkway on the ground Floor, as well as the complete renovation and modernization of the dining room, servery, and kitchen facilities. Project improvements in the ground floor of the Gallery Building also included replacement of a gang restroom with two ADA-compliant single-occupancy unisex restrooms. The mechanical, plumbing, and electrical systems were all upgraded. The existing fire protection systems were reconfigured as required to coordinate with the renovated spaces.

A key part of the renovation included increasing the size of the dining area by expanding into adjacent space. In order to accomplish this, a 40 FT section of a two-foot thick masonry foundation wall was selectively demolished. As this wall carries four stories of building load where it departs the basement and moves to the upper floors, it was permanently re-supported with steel, spanning the new openings. To transfer this load, we carefully needled in 12” preloaded steel beams, spaced 24” O.C. over a 15 FT x 40 FT excavation. Once the load has been transferred to temporary reshoring towers, the new foundation, piers, and steel columns and beams were constructed. The new foundation system was constructed without relocating three sewer crossings within the excavated space, with pipe sizes from 12” to 48” in diameter. 

After the successful construction of the re-supported structure was complete, extensive wood millwork, style and rail French doors, and a double-sided fireplace wrapped the new openings.