P.S. 154 Brooklyn was designed and built under C.B.J. Snyder in 1908. The school building exhibits many elements of historic character with which Snyder was known for. For more than a century the building has served its purpose in serving the community. As a result, for its history and time served, the building acquired severe damage due to water infiltration. Hired by SCA, Nelligan White Architects conducted full scope reports finding damage in each of the 27 rooms of this school building. Widespread, the damage resulted in a full masonry restoration of all facades.
Nelligan White Architects utilized exploratory probes to investigate the depth of water damage within the masonry and structural elements. Somewhere over years of damage repair, the original terra cotta cornice had been removed. The Cornice’s primary function is to shield the building from direct rain. Several steps had to be taken by our talented Architects in mitigating the perpetual water infiltration issue; Installation of a waterproof membrane and narrow drainage plane were applied to fully waterproof the building. Replacing the cornice and recreating the original architectural design was an essential step in our team’s investigation to waterproofing the building and restoring its historic architectural character. Other decorative architectural elements included in the rehabilitation were: terra cotta jack arches and sills around window openings, quoins, terra cotta pendants framing the main entryway, and a decorative limestone balcony.
Construction was completed in 2014.
