Armory Entrance.
One of my next projects, the beautiful art deco Cottage Grove Armory building. Built in 1931 as a National Guard armory and community center. Oculus has been contracted to restore 35 of the worst windows over the next 10 months. Cottage Grove is a nice small town a little bit south of Eugene. It is centrally located in the Willamette Valley. Here is a link for more information about Cottage Grove.
The windows are typical 6 over 6 and 4 over 4 double-hungs. One of the details that I really like about them are the weight pocket doors. I rarely see them cut on the diagonal. I will post more pictures of these as the restoration progresses.
Weight pocket door.
Some of the window details that I am not so excited to see is the lack of flashing between the sills and the concrete which has lead to a lot of complete sill failures. Also the ends of the sills are buried in a small pocket of concrete. Not so good either.
Sill end rotted out.
Complete sill failure.
I want to mention my new camera. Over the summer I worked on a consulting job where the conservator was using a Panasonic Lumix to photograph windows. The quality and ease of use promoted me to purchase one recently (and it wasn't too pricey either). I have to say that I am very pleased with the results so far. The picture below is a second story window but I shot is from the parking strip. I still had a lot of zoom left.
Shortly I will post about another exciting project that I will be working on over the next 12 months. This project will stretch my plane-making skills as I will be making two matched curved and sprung sash planes. Check back in to see what all that means.
As a little tease here is the view from the jobsite.
