Tale of a storefront renovation [Design Phase]
613 Main Street is a tiny little storefront with a decent size interior. Its façade is a mere 11’ – 4 11/16” wide. That’s not much Main Street frontage to go along with the 1500’ interior. Hence our arrival at renovating the façade into a jewelry box. The idea is to create a skillfully constructed façade to take advantage of every linear inch of exposure on Main Street.
The before picture [above] shows the circa 1950s façade that is literally falling off the building. The storefront is an “infill” building, in other words, it was created in the open space between two older buildings and shares the bearing wall belonging to the building on the right. Hence the absence of a structural column or end wall on the right side. Hence, the odd and unbalanced appearance. The current configuration doesn’t take advantage of the full height available for glass. The entry door is deep inside the vestibule. Which Shrouds it in shadow, creating an uninviting entrance. We will fix all these issues and many more in our new design.
A simple design proposal
The rendering above shows the storefront renovation design intent. It’s yet to be approved by the Boonton Historic Preservation Commission, however, it has gone through the preliminary feedback phase. The signage is fictitious and is there as an example only. The latter being a bit of wishful thinking. We will begin the search for a new tenant once the renovation is under way. The design includes black, thermally modified, brushed spruce cladding, installed vertically. The cladding is made by Thermory and is from their Ignite collection. Steel will allow the glass framing to maintain very narrow profiles. The glass system will be handmade by local craftsmen. Our glass will be at least 2’ higher than the existing glass thanks to the elimination of the arch structure shown in the before picture. 3″ x 12″ porcelain tile creates the brick pattern base.
Stay tuned for additional posts focusing on our storefront renovation.
Interested in looking at another transformation? Click here.
