Second Presbyterian Church Window Replacement

Kansas City, MO

After a generous private donor offered to replace the leaky, single pane aluminum sash windows in the church’s education wing with something more energy efficient that would lower utility costs, PWA was hired to find a suitable replacement. The three story structure was a 1950’s early modern addition to the original 1910’s Arts and Crafts style church (designed by famous local firm Shepard Farrar and Wiser) with matching stone but with a creative combination of hopper, awning and casements built up of aluminum sections set within the interior stone sills and plaster head and jambs. The windows, however, had been worked and reworked over the years with mismatching repairs such as white glazing putty. PWA worked with a local custom extruded aluminum window company to develop the proper sizes, shapes, trim profiles and sash combinations to replicate the originals with a thermally broken, double insulated glass window unit. Care was taken to develop demolition and installation details that didn’t require the tearing out of the original stone or plaster work. 

The church first contracted to build a series of mock-up “test” windows, which allowed them to verify and approve what was developed in the shop drawings and the contractor to refine his pricing. They then commissioned the entire project during the school’s off-season, phasing it to coincide with warmer weather. A custom pre-finish coating color was selected that most closely matched the color of the trim on the painted wood windows of the original church, thus unifying the two while maintaining the integrity of the 50’s style addition.