Adobe Building SF
Built in 1905, The Baker & Hamilton Building at 601 Townsend Street is on the National Register of Historic Places, and is one of the few remaining pre-earthquake buildings of its type.
Designed by Albert Sutton and Charles Weeks, the building is classified as a heavy timber industrial, typical of the South of Market warehouse district at that time. The building narrowly missed damage during the 1906 earthquake and fire, leaving Baker & Hamilton a rare survivor.
In 2000, the building was converted into an office space, earning LEED Platinum status and in 2007, Adobe Systems acquired ownership of the building and hired Giampolini Courtney to restore the facade.
The all-brick façade retained most of its original brick mortar joints, and at over 100 years in age, the original Portland cement mortar had lived a full life. With minor repairs over the years at various times, the appearance of the mortar overall was quilt-like and varied.
Work consisted of 100% repointing of the brick mortar joints—which means replacing the outer surfaces of mortar, a noisy and dusty process creating silica dust exposure.
As an added challenge, the building was fully occupied during the scope of our work. We employed our proprietary dust control system to filter air within the shrink wrap enclosure, which went around the exterior of the building and made sure that no dust entered the building. The noisiest work was done on weekends to minimize distractions to the full house of creative tech professionals.
In addition to repointing, Giampolini Courtney replaced copper sheet metal elements, rebuilt failing areas of brick, and repainted massive wood windows and sashes. Finally, we retooled Colusa sandstone elements and replaced select deteriorated stone elements.
