What we found
385 14th Street’s cornice had reached the point where surface paint failure was beginning to telegraph the underlying rust pattern. A few of the decorative brackets had lost some of their crispness as the metal beneath weathered, and the joints between sections were showing daylight in places.
The substrate was tired but recoverable. The scope was clear: meaningful restoration work, not just repaint.
The Work
Scrape down to sound metal. Treat the exposed rust. Solder where the sheet metal had thinned through. Re-caulk every seam. Re-secure decorative elements that had loosened. Prime with epoxy. Finish in two color-matched coats.
The decorative brackets — the small ornamental projections under the main cornice line — got individual attention. We patched where they had thinned, primed each separately, and finished them in the same color system as the main cornice.
The result
The cornice now reads complete and unified again. The decorative brackets are crisp. Color is consistent. The work should hold for 25+ years before any meaningful intervention is needed.
Project gallery
