147 Milk Street, Boston

First constructed in the early 1900s, this mass-masonry building, located in Boston’s financial district, later received a steel-frame addition after the initial construction. Plans were approved in 1900, the original construction of the eight-floor building was completed in 1903, and the 9th/10th-floor addition was finished in 1920. Over the years, water damage caused the steel structure to corrode and rust, which displaced the masonry. This $1.5M project consisted of 100% repointing of the original brick facade, complete replacement of precast masonry and relieving angles on the 9th and 10th floors (~300’ total), limestone patching, and replacement of the original sheet metal cornice with a GFRP replica produced by DurOFiber in New Hampshire.

During the project, Patriot discovered that the column on the corner of Batterymarch and Milk Street, which was part of the early addition, had corroded so badly that one could see through the web in some places. Patriot brought in a structural engineer to work side by side to design and implement a program that thoroughly removed and replaced the corner column while maintaining building operations and avoiding schedule delays.