the dakota courtyard renovation new york, ny · of the paving because of its quality and high level...

The architects chose GlacierBlue™ Devonian stone for muchof the paving because of itsquality and high level ofstructural integrity. It also tiedwell with the historical design ofthe building.

The stone paving was specified in a broad range of shapes and sizes.

For the corners, the Devonian stone had to be cut at varying angles.

The previous gray traffic-bearingwaterproof membrane, while reasonablyinconspicuous and inoffensive, certainlydid not do justice to this space or to thequality and history of the building.” The architects chose to renovate thecourtyard using Glacier Blue™Devonian stone from Devonian Stone ofNew York, Inc. in Windsor, NY, becauseof its quality and high level of structuralintegrity. “We explored differentsuppliers in New York andPennsylvania, but they displayed littleinterest,” said Paplin. “They didn’t havethe attitude that they were ready toprovide a superior product or attentive,intelligent service. [Robert Bellospiritofrom Devonian Stone] respondeddifferently; quite the opposite actually.He was very enthusiastic right from thebeginning, and he emphasized thequality of the stone and the consistencyof color. Then he sent us some samples,which we loved. He completely fulfilledall our expectations.” According to Wender, they knewthey were going to use stone all along.“Bluestone was the material thatoriginal ly formed the sidewalkssurrounding the building,” he said. “Itwas a natural choice. I walked throughthe job with the client, and when wefaced the building, we could see theexisting Bluestone to the left and right.I recommended that the courtyard’ssidewalks be finished in stone becausethat is what the original architectplaced at the building’s exterior. I feltit was best to carry the stone into thecourtyard.” Three months later, Wender and hisfirm presented their findings to theBuilding’s Board of Directors. After

discovering that the underlying steelstructure was beginning to deteriorate,and would require a great deal ofreplacement and reinforcing, theysuggested that the original finishmaterial of concrete should be replacedby stone. “I came to this conclusion fortwo reasons,” said Wender. “theoriginal architect had used monolithicstone slabs at the exterior. Secondly,replacing the concrete would haverequired pouring a reinforced finishslab of a thickness that would have

The Devonian curbstones meetthe granite pavers, which were all

hand-carved and flame-finished.

been prohibitive given the constraintsof the project. Stone paving, sized inproportion to the existing Herculeanslabs at the portal of the building,would be both more appropriate to theoriginal architecture and technicallyaccomplishable.” Devonian stone of New York, Inc.provided about 4,500 square feet ofstone for the project - includingpaving stone and curbstones - all

flame-finished at the company’sfabrication facility in Windsor, NY.Aside from suppling the stone for theDakota’s courtyard, Bellospirito alsoworked side-by-side with the contractoron the installation process, devising amethod using a vacuum-operated jibcrane to install each of the heavy stones,which measure from 3 1/2 to 6 feet in size.According to the company, “the stoneretains a high level of structural

integrity, providing cut tolerances ofplus or minus 1/8 to 1/16 inches to thefinished product, allowing it to meetthe most demanding architecturalspecifications.” According to Wender, the size of thestone slabs varies largely due to severalfactors. “First of all, I wanted to use verylarge slabs at the driveway to reflect thescale of the enormous slabs at thebuilding’s portal,” he explained.

According to Randy Huber of Cold SpringGranite, Inc., the Iridian granite used forthe pavers was quarried in Isle, MN.

Devonian stone was also used to clad the fountains within the courtyard.

According to John Wender of Bartolone Wender Architects, the granite pavers are split onsome faces, and cut on others. “They are split on four sides and sawn on two sides, with aflamed finish. We also chose them because they could be installed on a thinner bed,”he explained.

A great deal of care was taken to ensure that all of the stonework would fit perfectly.

typically 2 or 5 inches thick, and theydid run into a minor challenge whencoordinating the stone at the site. “Spacewas limited,” he said. “the contractorwould send us a list of required pieceson a weekly basis for the followingweek. We would then fabricate themand get them down to him.” He alsoexperienced some difficulty due to thevariety of the size of the pieces, whichranged from 3 x 3 feet to 5 x 8 x 9 inchesin the south passageway. During the mock-up process, thearchitects faced many challenges inregards to space. “It was difficult gettingthe entire system to work within thevary narrow tolerances we had,” saidPaplin. “We only had 10 inches overallto do everything. After considering thepaving thickness, the waterproofing anddrainage system, a high enough curband enough slope, we were left withlittle room for mistakes. It took two orthree go-arounds of full-sized sectiondetai ls - measuring and thenmeasuring again. It was gratifying in theend, and it all dropped into placebeautifully. We even had an extra 1/8 inchwhen finished.” Stokdal Construction Corp. ofKingston, NY, completed the installationof the stone in about 10 months, with 22workers on the job. According to KaareStokdal, the process was heavilyinvolved and required the creation ofnew space before the stone could beimplemented. “We had to remove theexisting concrete and substructure,replace the steel, pour the concrete, redothe waterproofing, and then install theDevonian stone and granite pavers,” hesaid. The company used Portlandcement and sand mortar, along withJahn M110 pointing mortar distributed

Additionally, because the curb isformed by the stone slab itself, asopposed to a separate curbstone, Iwanted the slabs forming the curb to bevery large. The slabs then transitionback to the perimeter of the building toa more easily manageable scale. Therandom sizes of the pattern reflect thepatterning of the Bluestone on thebuilding’s exterior sidewalk.” “Landmarks required that we makethe curbstones around the driveway inthe center of the courtyard appear

monoli thic, with the adjacentflagstones,” said Paplin. “We wanted touse an L-shaped piece, but Bobby[Bellospirito] said not to because itwould make the piece weak and subjectto crack along the points of weakness.Plus, it required more labor to cut intoan ‘L’, so he told us to just keep it as aslab. What you see is what you get: it’sa monumental monolithic 4- x 6-foot x5-inch-thick-piece.” According to Bellospirito, the piecesthat Devonian Stone supplied were

by Cathedral Stone Products, Inc. fromHanover, MD. In addition to Devonian stone theproject also employed granite pavers.“We were going to use hexagon-shapedasphalt pavers like the ones used inCentral Park and Riverside park [inNew York], but they were rejected for acombination of reasons,” Paplinexplained. “they wouldn’t really fit intoa courtyard like this.” Instead, thearchitects chose to use granite paverssupplied by Cold Spring Granite Inc. ofCold Spring, MN. Wender said that the natural decisionwas to use cobblestone, but because ofthe size of the project, this was difficultto do. “We wanted to choose somethingthat looked like Belgium block, so weinvestigated granite pavers,” he said.“Cold Spring has a good selection and aquality production record.” According to Wender, the granitepavers are split on some faces, and cuton others. He also said that the granitethroughout the main part of thecourtyard is 1 1/2 inches thick, while thedriveway pieces are 4 inches thick andlightly tumbled. “They are split on foursides and sawn on two sides, with aflame-faced finish. We also chose thembecause they could be installed on athinner bed,” he explained. “In thecourse of designing the paving patternfor the granite pavers at the driveway, Idesigned a herringbone pattern to reflectthe guastivino tile ceiling vaults above,and help define the driveway as aspecial place. Subsequently, I discoveredthat the herringbone pattern is preferredin driveways because it is tighter andwears better than a stacked or runningbond. Installation of the herringbonepattern with 4-inch pavers was verydifficult, and the contractor should becommended for the hand-sizing of eachblock that made this possible.” According to Randy Huber of Cold

is quite massive, and picks up thedimensions of the lantern fountains,which are the original cast iron ones -an historical element to the courtyard.We put a stone base on the lanterns andrestored them. In the past, they wereused to light up the basement, but nowwe use them to light up the courtyard atnight to illuminate the Devonian stoneand granite. We hid light bulbs insidethem, and the light shines out throughthe windows.” Great care was taken to maintain aclassical look despite the challenges ofthe site. “We were trying to strive to

keep to the spirit of the existingdetailing, but had to tweak and inventin order to make the profiles work withthe new heights and tolerances, and toreplace profiles for which we no longerhad direct evidence of the exact design,”said Paplin. “Our overall objective wasto create an articulate, coordinatedwhole that harmonizes the new with theoriginal, and does not deny the presentmoment - the fact that this is 2004.” According to Wender, the tenants are“over the moon with excitement” aboutthe renovation of the courtyard, whichconcluded this past September.

Large blocks of Devonian Stone werecut at the plant in Windsor, NY.

A bridge was was used to cut the stoneslabs for the proper dimensions.

The process of flaming thestone pieces to the desired

look was thorough andmeticulous

The Dakota courtyard RenovationNew York, NYArchitects: Bartolone Wender Architects, New York, NY; James R. Gainfort AIA Consulting Architects, New York, NY.General Contractor/Stone Installer: Stokdal Construction Corp., Kingston, NYStone Suppliers: Devonian Stone of New York, Inc., Windsor, NY (Glacier Blue™ sandstone); Cold Spring Granite, Inc., Cold Spring, MN (Iridian granite)Installation Products: Cathedral Stone Products, Inc., Hanover, MD (Jahn M110 pointing mortar)

Renovation of the Dakota courtyard in New York City included the implementation of Devonian Stone and Iridiangranite pavers throughout the sidewalks, driveways and each of the four quadrants of the courtyard.

Spring Granite Inc., the companysupplied 3,400 square feet of Iridiangranite - quarried in Isle, MN - invarious sizes, including 6 x 9 1/2, 6 x 12, 14x 14 and 3 1/2 x 7 1/2 inches. “We suppliedthe material as rectangular pieces,” saidHuber. “The contractor cut theperimeter pieces to fit. He also trimmedmany of the field pieces in order tomaintain exceptionally tight joints.” An interesting suggestion for thepaver installation came from JamesGainfort, who suggested that instead ofusing grout and mortar to set the stone,the crews should use Bluestone dust.“This is a somewhat unusual use ofstone dust, but it was very appropriatefor the project,” said Paplin. Wender also implemented stoneplanters, which he said were not anoriginal element to the building. “Iincluded a stone planter in thepresentation of the landmark, andbrought to attention that the tenentsloved the original planter that was inplace and they agreed to it,” he said. “It


























New York landmarkgets a new courtyard

Glacier BlueTM Devonian Stone was chosen for the renovation of theDakota apartment complex’s courtyard in New York City

by Michelle Stinnard


82 November 2004 Stone World

ebruary 2004 marked the beginning of a 7 1/2-month-long renovation of the courtyard at thefamous Dakota apartment building inNew York City. Originally built in 1884by Architect Henry Hardenbergh, thelegendary edifice is a massive, fortress-like structure with a large centercourtyard and over 100 apartmentunits. Manhattan-based architect, John

Wender of Bartolone Wender Architects,was chosen to conduct the restorationof the courtyard. He in turn broughtJames R. Gainfort AIA ConsultingArchitects on board for masonry andwaterproofing expertise. And whenwork was completed, stone from NewYork met the design goals and practicalchallenges. According to Catherine Paplin, who

managed the project in Gainfort’s office,the goal of the project was two-fold. “Onthe one hand, there was the desire torestore the courtyard to its original spirit,and to whatever extent possible, itsoriginal materials and look,” said Paplin.“On the other hand, there was simply thedesire to make the courtyard beautiful,with a quality of design, workmanshipand materials that befit this landmark.


Renovation & RestorationRenovation & Restoration




The previous gray traffic-b earingwaterproof membrane, while reasonablyinconspicuous and inoffensive, certainlydid not do justice to this space or to thequality and history of the building.” The architects chose to renovate thecourtyard using Glacier Blue™Devonian stone from Devonian Stone ofNew York, Inc. in Windsor, NY, becauseof its quality and high level of structuralintegrity. “We explored differentsuppliers in New York andPennsylvania, but they displayed littleinterest,” said Paplin. “They didn’t havethe attitude that they were ready toprovide a superior product or attentive,intel ligent serv ice. [Robert Bellospiri tofrom Devonian Stone] respondeddifferently; quite the opposite actually.He was very enthusiastic right from thebeginning, and he emphasized thequality of the stone and the consistencyof color. Then he sent us some samples,which we loved. He completely fulfilledall our expectations.” According to Wender, they knewthey were going to use stone all along.“Bluestone was the material thatoriginal ly formed the sidewalkssurrounding the building,” he said. “Itwas a natural choice. I walked throughthe job with the client, and when wefaced the build ing, we could see theexisting Bluestone to the left and right.I recommended that the courtyard’ssidewalks be finished in stone becausethat is what the original architectplaced at the building’s exterior. I feltit was best to carry the stone into thecourtyard.” Three months later, Wender and hisfirm presented their findings to theBuilding’s Board of Directors. After





























discovering that the underlying stee lstructure was beginning to deteriorate,and would require a great deal ofreplacement and reinforcing, theysuggested that the original finishmaterial of concrete should be replacedby stone. “I came to this conclusion fortwo reasons,” said Wender. “theoriginal architect had used monolithicstone slabs at the exterior . Secondly,replacing the concrete would haverequired pouring a reinforced finishslab of a thickness that would have































been prohibitive given the constraintsof the project . Stone paving, sized inproportion to the existin g Herculeanslabs at the portal of the building,would be both more appropriate to theoriginal architecture and technicall yaccomplishable.” Devonian stone of New York, Inc.provided about 4,500 square feet ofstone for the project - includingpaving stone and curbstones - all

flame-finished at the company’sfabrication facili ty in Windsor, NY.Aside from suppling the stone for theDakota’s courtyard, Bellospirito alsoworked side-by-side with the contractoron the installat ion process, devising amethod using a vacuum-operated jibcrane to install each of the heavy stones,which measure from 3 1/2 to 6 feet in size.According to the company, “the stoneretains a high level of structural

integ rity, providing cut tolerances ofplus or minus 1/8 to 1/16 inches to thefinished product, allowing it to meetthe most demanding architecturalspecifications.” According to Wender, the size of thestone slabs varies largely due to severalfactors. “First of all, I wanted to use verylarge slabs at the driveway to reflect thescale of the enormous slabs at thebuilding’s portal,” he explained.

































typically 2 or 5 inches thick, and theydid run into a minor challenge whencoordinating the stone at the site. “Spacewas limited,” he said. “the contractorwould send us a list of required pieceson a weekly basis for the followingweek. We would then fabricate themand get them down to him.” He alsoexperienced some difficulty due to thevariety of the size of the pieces, whichranged from 3 x 3 feet to 5 x 8 x 9 inchesin the south passageway. During the mock-up process, thearchitects faced many challenges inregards to space. “It was difficult gettingthe entire system to work within thevary narrow toleran ces we had,” saidPaplin. “We only had 10 inches overallto do everythi ng. After considering thepaving thickness, the waterproofing anddrainage system, a high enough curband enough slope, we were left withlittle room for mistakes. It took two orthree go-arounds of full-sized secti ondetai ls - measuring and thenmeasuring again. It was gratifying in theend, and it all dropped into placebeautifully. We even had an extra 1/8 inchwhen finished.” Stokdal Construction Corp. ofKingston, NY, completed the installationof the stone in about 10 months, with 22workers on the job. According to KaareStokdal, the process was heavilyinvolved and required the creat ion ofnew space before the stone could beimplemented. “We had to remove theexisting concrete and substructure,replace the steel, pour the concrete, redothe waterproofing, and then install theDevonian stone and granite pavers,” hesaid. The company used Portlandcement and sand mortar, along withJahn M110 pointing mortar distributed

Additio nally, because the curb isformed by the stone slab itself, asopposed to a separate curbstone, Iwanted the slabs forming the curb to bevery large. The slabs then transitionback to the perimeter of the building toa more easil y manageable scale. Therandom sizes of the pattern reflect thepatte rning of the Bluestone on thebuilding’s exterior sidewalk.” “Landmarks required that we makethe curbston es around the driveway inthe center of the courtyard appear

monoli thic, with the adjacentflagstones,” said Paplin. “We wanted touse an L-shaped piece, but Bobby[Bellosp irito] said not to because itwould make the piece weak and subjectto crack along the points of weakness.Plus, it required more labor to cut intoan ‘L’, so he told us to just keep it as aslab. What you see is what you get: it’sa monumental monolithic 4- x 6-foot x5-inch-thick-piece.” According to Bellospirito, the piecesthat Devonian Stone supplied were


























typically 2 or 5 inches thick, and theydid run into a minor challenge whencoordinating the stone at the site. “Spacewas limited,” he said. “the contractorwould send us a list of required pieceson a weekly basis for the followingweek. We would then fabricate themand get them down to him.” He alsoexperienced some difficulty due to thevariety of the size of the pieces, whichranged from 3 x 3 feet to 5 x 8 x 9 inchesin the south passageway. During the mock-up process, thearchitects faced many challenges inregards to space. “It was difficult gettingthe entire system to work within thevary narrow toleran ces we had,” saidPaplin. “We only had 10 inches overallto do everythi ng. After considering thepaving thickness, the waterproofing anddrainage system, a high enough curband enough slope, we were left withlittle room for mistakes. It took two orthree go-arounds of full-sized secti ondetai ls - measuring and thenmeasuring again. It was gratifying in theend, and it all dropped into placebeautifully. We even had an extra 1/8 inchwhen finished.” Stokdal Construction Corp. ofKingston, NY, completed the installationof the stone in about 10 months, with 22workers on the job. According to KaareStokdal, the process was heavilyinvolved and required the creat ion ofnew space before the stone could beimplemented. “We had to remove theexisting concrete and substructure,replace the steel, pour the concrete, redothe waterproofing, and then install theDevonian stone and granite pavers,” hesaid. The company used Portlandcement and sand mortar, along withJahn M110 pointing mortar distributed

Additio nally, because the curb isformed by the stone slab itself, asopposed to a separate curbstone, Iwanted the slabs forming the curb to bevery large. The slabs then transitionback to the perimeter of the building toa more easil y manageable scale. Therandom sizes of the pattern reflect thepatte rning of the Bluestone on thebuilding’s exterior sidewalk.” “Landmarks required that we makethe curbston es around the driveway inthe center of the courtyard appear

monoli thic, with the adjacentflagstones,” said Paplin. “We wanted touse an L-shaped piece, but Bobby[Bellosp irito] said not to because itwould make the piece weak and subjectto crack along the points of weakness.Plus, it required more labor to cut intoan ‘L’, so he told us to just keep it as aslab. What you see is what you get: it’sa monumental monolithic 4- x 6-foot x5-inch-thick-piece.” According to Bellospirito, the piecesthat Devonian Stone supplied were

by Cathedral Stone Products, Inc. fromHanover, MD. In addition to Devonian stone theproject also employed granite pavers.“We were going to use hexagon-shapedasphalt pavers like the ones used inCentral Park and Riverside park [inNew York], but they were rejected for acombination of reasons,” Paplinexplained. “they wouldn’t really fit intoa courtyard like this.” Instead , thearchitects chose to use granite paverssupplied by Cold Spring Granite Inc. ofCold Spring, MN. Wender said that the natural decisionwas to use cobblestone, but because ofthe size of the project, this was difficultto do. “We wanted to choose somethingthat looked like Belgium block, so weinvestigated granite pavers,” he said.“Cold Spring has a good selection and aquality production record.” According to Wender, the granitepavers are split on some faces, and cuton others. He also said that the granitethroughout the main part of thecourtyard is 1 1/2 inches thick, while thedriveway pieces are 4 inches thick andlightly tumbled. “They are split on foursides and sawn on two sides, with aflame-faced finish. We also chose thembecause they could be instal led on athinner bed,” he explaine d. “In thecourse of designing the paving patternfor the granite pavers at the driveway, Idesigned a herringbone pattern to reflectthe guastivino tile ceiling vaults above,and help define the driveway as aspecial place. Subsequently, I discoveredthat the herringbone pattern is preferredin driveways because it is tighter andwears better than a stacked or runningbond. Installation of the herringbonepattern with 4-inch pavers was verydifficult, and the contractor should becommended for the hand-sizing of eachblock that made this possible.” According to Randy Huber of Cold











the dakota courtyard renovation new york, ny · of the paving because of its quality and high level...

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