When driving through the Germantown neighborhood in Louisville, Kentucky, the major building most everyone notices is the Germantown Mill Lofts. This is due mainly for the big and beautiful windows are installed all around the building. These windows make the Mill Lofts unique and enjoyable.
The Germantown Mill Lofts is a renovation of the Cotton Mill located on an entire city block on Goss Avenue. The Cotton Mill was built in 1889 in the Germantown Neighborhood of Louisville and was used as a cotton mill until the 1960s. Since the Mill Lofts are considered a historical site due to the building’s age and history, the specific windows produced by Sun for the renovation had to meet the criteria for the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) and the National Historic Park Service. Meeting the historic criteria made the project more tedious, but none the less, Sun still made it possible to meet all criteria and provide extravagant windows.
Since the renovation, there are 184 modern apartments, a swimming pool, and an on-site restaurant and bar located in the Mill Lofts. The Germantown Mill Lofts has been presented with several awards, such as the 2016 Preservation Kentucky Best Commercial Historic Preservation Award, the 2017 LEO Weekly Winner of Best Apartment Complex, and the 2017 Kentucky AIA Renovation Design of the Year Award.
As mentioned earlier, the project was not simple and Sun spent a year and a half quoting, measuring, and building prototypes before the project could even be started. Sun not only met the criteria for SHPO and the National Historic Parks Service, but engineered custom solutions that met the budget of the owners. Sun had to reuse the original openings of the cotton mill and custom made each window to fit perfectly. The primary windows are located on Goss Avenue and McHenry Street, while the secondary windows are located on the back side of the Mill Lofts. The primary windows are fixed and operating casements. Sun custom designed a modified direct set for the secondary windows that would still meet the criteria for SHPO and the National Historic Park Service while helping the developer meet their budget. Another part of the project that was customized by Sun were the insulated glass units used to restore custom steel windows in other parts of the building.
The project was a full-frame replacement, which means that the entire window had to be completely removed and the new windows reinstalled in their place. A lot of Sun Windows products were used during the renovation, such as clad casements, clad sash-set fixed lites, clad sash-set radius, clad direct set, and clad true French in-swing doors. In addition to Sun, the project team included Brasch Constructors, Inc., and Pimsler Hoss Architects.
After reading this post, it is clear to see how much Sun can improve the look of a renovated building, while keeping the history intact. So, whenever you get a chance to go to Louisville, take some time to visit the Germantown Neighborhood to see the beautiful windows that give the Mill Lofts its essence.
The Germantown Mill Lofts is one of the most well known projects that Sun has completed. To learn more about this project and other well known projects, visit the Case Studies page on Sun’s website.
References Used:
germantownmilllofts.com