St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Capitol Hill holds a special place in our company’s history. In 1974, Wagner was tasked with the full replacement of the steep slope slate roof, which also included the iconic slate tower. During the removal of the original slate, however, each tile was carefully salvaged for the church, who in turn sold the slate to help fund the cost of the replacement.
Reflecting on the job, Chuck Wagner identifies the St. Mark’s Church project as one that propelled the company into the field of historic restoration.
Fast forward to 2019: Wagner was again called upon to restore another iconic portion of the roof – the copper spires.
Featured in Traditional Building Magazine our team performed an extensive roof restoration to the copper spires under the direction of Aeon Preservation Services LLC. Access to the 4 copper spires and large main tower required an engineered scaffolding system, designed and provided by Scaffold Resource.
“The new copper roofs of the turrets have an updated seam pattern that’s stronger and more water-resistant than the original but just as aesthetically accurate.”
-AEON PRESERVATION
While access was available, our team also installed all new 16oz. copper through-wall flashing under the coping along the gables. The original coping stones were removed during installation and reinstalled by Aeon Preservation to allow for traditional, long-lasting detailing.
Lastly, the ornate copper louver vent, located within the field of the main tower, was carefully removed and brought back to Wagner’s in-house custom sheet metal studio to analyze and replicate out of 20oz. copper. Once fabricated within our shop, the new vent was reinstalled at its iconic perch high above the surrounding Capitol Hill neighborhood.
