This particular building, although a bit more modern than some of the older historic buildings here in Washington DC, had to have electrical upgrades. At the time of original construction many of the historic buildings here in Washington DC were not built with the full array of electrical provisions that we typically find in modern construction today. Early forms of electricity in historic buildings generally used few circuits and only had a handful of points of power and lighting.

Simple electrical systems like that can use low amounts of electrical draw, in other words, they can often use or be built on systems that only supply relatively low amperage from the source. As demand increases, as devices and appliances increase in quantity and in size or electrical draw, in each respective household, demand for additional circuitry has increased.  This trend is pretty consistent, across the board, in almost every type of construction here in Washington DC.

The building looks relatively simple, a clean and relatively minimalist facade without much adornment built into the masonry and brickwork. However, if you look closely, you may notice a horizontal molding that wraps from the front of the building, around the corner to the side of the building and as it runs towards the back of the building.  Across the side facade, it connects to a vertical molding that runs upwards and downwards. This particular molding is made to look like a type of trim, but it’s really an electrical raceway.

The raceway carries electrical cabling which provides additional power. If this cabling had been installed, as really needed, but not available the time, during the original construction, they would have never had to run it on the exterior wall. Running cabling like this on an exterior wall essentially looks bad, it detract from the overall presentation of the exterior facade. To minimize the ugliness of drooping cables along of the facade, they’re hiding these cables inside of the raceway, but even the raceway itself is not an equivalent alternative to simply installing the cabling in intended concealed spaces such as interior wall cavities.

In his upcoming week, we’re going to talk about additional aspects and look at additional pictures of the raceway shown here at this building.  Whenever working with historic buildings, it’s important to understand that many of the provisions that we commonly use in modern buildings weren’t available the time of original construction. Here you can see window units installed for air conditioning at several of the rooms. Unlike modern buildings with generally have central air or complete AC systems, this building only has air conditioning units through the windows. As a negative trade-off, those windows are rendered inoperable during the summer seasons.

We can Help

Our company focuses on historic restoration more than modern building upkeep, maintenance, and construction, but our company understands both types of construction very well and a full picture well-rounded approach is needed in any niche in the construction industry.  Although we focus on historic restoration, repointing, tuckpointing and historic brick repair, our company also has technical knowledge and competencies in the areas of modern and contemporary construction as well as we become one of the leaders in that area of the market today. Understanding both historic and modern or contemporary construction is useful because both aspects help understand the challenges and potential solutions for challenges in building science and construction.

We can help with a variety of historic masonry restoration needs and upkeep, from modest tuckpointing and or repointing to complicated and extensive historic masonry restoration. Infinity Design Solutions is a historic restoration specialist contractor specializing in both historic masonry restoration such as tuckpointing our repointing, and brick repair. If you have questions about the architectural details or facade of your historic building in Washington DC, reach out and say hello and if we can help we’ll be glad to assist you. You can email us or call us on the telephone at the following link: contact us here.