The Historic Federal Building

Christmas Decorations

2007-12-22T10:44:00.000-08:00

In the 5th Street Gallery there's a pottery show featuring Puebloan Ken Williams and his wife Judith's work. Took a couple snapshots of the cast brass PO box doors that grace three walls in the lobby.

Boiler

2007-12-22T10:36:00.000-08:00

The building is about to get a more efficient boiler system. It's sitting in the basement waiting for Spring, or as soon as it's warm enough to take the old boiler offline.

There's some really large copper pipe on the floor in the basement that I imagine is associated with it. Largest that I've ever seen.

Painting the Stairwell

2007-12-03T09:13:00.000-08:00

Earlier this spring I was called upon for one reason or another to paint the stairwells in areas my father and brother (Kottenstette Brothers Inc.) had completed. Though it took a great deal of improvisation with the scaffolding on hand I managed to devise a way to get at these. (A more direct way, in hind-sight, would have been to make one main scaffold stack inside the stairwell from the ground floor up to the fourth floor ceiling.) It was an adventure involving a lanyard and body harness I would attach to the railing. Though at times awkward I got used to it and found myself using it to brace against to alleviate some of the body fatigue and tedium.

The mauve and pink colors on the plaster stringer previously keyed into the marble wainscotting, with the black on the rail, newel post and balustrade. Ralph Lauren metallics in green, two types of gold and bronze where used. Below is a view down from the fourth floor.