UPDATE: The work performed by Wagner’s craftsmen at the Historic Annapolis Post Office won 2 honorable awards
- 2020 Craftsmanship Award: Roofing
Presented by the Washington Building Congress
Five of our lead craftsmen were recognized with the honorable WBC Craftsmanship Award: Obed Hernandez, Ariel Lemus, Victor Lopez, Fredy Navarrete, and Andrew Tybor
“WBC is the only local organization that recognizes the skills of craftsmen through our Craftsmanship Awards Program—an annual celebration of excellent work performed in our local industry. WBC created the Craftsmanship Awards Program to honor those who individually provided exceptional workmanship on buildings throughout the Washington, DC area.“ - “Best of Maryland” Stewardship Award
Presented by Preservation Maryland
Wagner’s roof restoration work was recognized as part of an overall award for the project.
“Under the direction of the Maryland Department of General Services, one of Annapolis’s historic post offices just underwent a world-class comprehensive adaptive reuse program to restore the deteriorated Georgian Revival architecture and to convert its interior space into new state government offices for the governor’s office of community initiatives and the governor’s legal office. DGS selected to work with industry leaders Consigli Construction, Ziger/Snead Architects, and Wagner Roofing to complete the work on the 1901 structure – and Gold Leaf Studios even gilded the historic pineapple cupola adornment with 23.5 karat double-weight gold...”
Built in 1901, the historic Annapolis Post Office at 1 Church Circle underwent extensive renovations to restore the deteriorated Georgian Revival architecture and to convert its interior space into new state government offices.
In 2013, the Maryland State Government purchased the historic building as part of a plan to connect the property to the surrounding complex of state offices and tunnels in the heart of Annapolis.
As part of the renovations, led by the MD Dept. of General Services, Consigli Construction, and Ziger/Snead Architects, an extensive restoration took place, which included a new slate roof, built-in gutter, replacement of the low slope roofing system, and a new flat-locked copper dome atop the cupola.
The eye-catching “cherry-on-top” of the restoration efforts, however, consisted of the building’s iconic copper “pineapple” finial that once again adorns the apex of the cupola and shines brightly over Annapolis’s historic Church Circle.
Following the careful removal of the 119-year-old finial, the piece was brought back to Wagner’s in-house sheet metal studio where the company’s seasoned craftsmen stripped and repaired some of the ornate details that had fallen off over the past century. Once repaired, Wagner called in the services of Gold Leaf Studios to have the piece gilded with 23.75 karat double-weight gold. Once restored, Wagner’s team returned the finial to the post office’s highest point, which can again be seen shimmering overhead by passersby.
This historic property represents an era between the 1900s and WWII in which the Federal Government custom-designed post offices on main streets across America as an architectural pillar for those small towns.
As William Morgan of Columbia University once not-so-eloquently stated in a 1967 architectural review, “The Annapolis post office is historically important for showing that at one point the govt. ‘cared’ enough about architecture…”
Following the $3.2 million purchase of the building in 2013, the Maryland Department of General Services budgeted $16.8 million for the renovations several years later. The 2.5-story brick structure is listed on the Maryland Historical Trust’s inventory of historic properties.
