Oakland, CA
Scope/Solutions
The Bellevue-Staten building was constructed in the 1920s in the Art Deco style and is on the National Register of Historic Places. The owners were concerned about the structural integrity of the elaborate rooftop chimneys on the fourteen-story building. SGH investigated the condition of three chimneys and developed a retrofit to address the deficiencies.
Due to the building’s landmark status, the solution required special considerations for testing, repairs, and submitting the proposed plan to the Landmarks Preservation Board.
During our investigation, SGH observed that the free-standing chimneys lacked steel reinforcement. We performed calculations to evaluate the chimneys’ ability to withstand seismic events and determined that the chimneys posed a significant falling hazard.
SGH developed a plan to brace and retrofit the chimneys while simultaneously maintaining historic architectural features of the building and satisfying the City of Oakland’s retrofit requirements for unreinforced masonry buildings.
Project Summary
