Custom Color Double-Hung Windows Preserve Historic University Building in Chester, PA

Project Scope

Now home to administrative offices and the president's office for Widener University, Old Main has a rich history. Originally built in 1867 in Chester, Pennsylvania, this building was used as the primary quarters for the Pennsylvania Military Academy. In 1882, a fire broke out on the top floor, which was being used as a chemistry laboratory and unfortunately burned the building to the ground. The entire structure, however, was rebuilt within the following months, and the new chemistry lab was kept separate from the main structure, connected with a metal walkway that still exists today. Cadets attended classes on the top floor and lived on the second and third floors while places like the assembly room, visitor reception and other offices were on the first. The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

With so much history in just one of the Chester, PA locations of Widener University, our team knew we had to take special care of this project. We installed new wood double-hung windows on this building. Since the university is doing the window replacement in phases, we only replaced the first- and second-floor windows. Since the replacement is happening in phases, we wanted to make sure that the new windows matched the existing ones.

As you can see, the window's colors are unique: the sashes are pink and the window frames are red. Along with the different colors, the window sash's pink hue was a custom-created color that our team replicated from the original windows to ensure the new ones matched. Once we matched the colors and installed the custom double-hung windows, the building looked amazing!

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