 Commissioned by the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation under their Design Excellence program, the Gertrude Ederle Recreation Center (formerly the 59th Street Recreation Center) entails the renovation of a historic 1906 bathhouse and the construction of a 10,500 sf addition. The completed building will contain a swimming pool, gymnasium, fitness center, aerobics studio, new locker rooms, a youth activity center, multi-purpose community rooms, and comfort stations to serve the new park and playground. 

Gertrude Ederle Recreation Center

 Belmont Freeman discusses the renovation of a historic 1906 bathhouse, the Gertrude Ederle Recreation Center. 

 The new Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Center at the University of Pennsylvania occupies 6,000 sf in a pair of historic 1876 carriage houses. The exterior received a landmark-quality restoration while the interior underwent total renovation to create meeting rooms, a library, offices, a large multi-purpose lounge and a catering kitchen. A new elevator was strategically inserted to provide handicapped accessibility to the four different floor levels in the two-story split-level structure. Extensive landscaping provides outdoor gathering space and knits the Carriage House into campus pathways. 

University of Pennsylvania

LGBT Center Carriage House

The Four Seasons Restaurant came about when Bronfman hired Joseph Baum Restaurant Associates to make a restaurant to add value to the building. He decided to highlight American cuisine. Mimi Sheraton was on the research and testing team for the menu. The restaurant cost $4.5 million to open. It should be compared to the Guggenheim Museum which cost $3 million and was built at roughly the same time. It was the first restaurant to offer meals that changed with the seasons and was famous for its power lunches &ndash; JFK`s 45th Birthday dinner was held there. More recently there was a new renovation by Annabelle Seldorf in 2018.

Four Seasons Restaurant

 Belmont Freeman discusses the restaurant renovation of the Four Seasons Restaurants in the Phillip Johnson Seagram Building. 

 Renovations to a landmark 1927 funeral home on Manhattan's Upper West Side. The work involved restoration of exterior masonry, metalwork, and windows, extensive upgrading of mechanical and electrical systems, and restoration of principal interior spaces. Careful paint analysis was undertaken to determine and restore original color schemes. The new multi-scene lighting of the main chapel involved the creative retrofitting of historic fixtures and the subtle introduction of sophisticated new architectural lighting. 

Riverside Memorial Chapel

 The Zilkha Gallery is part of Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts, a complex of iconic modern buildings designed by Kevin Roche-John Dinkeloo Associates in the 1960s and opened in 1973. Belmont Freeman Architects' commission was to upgrade all building systems and make the gallery more compatible to the display of contemporary art, while preserving the monumental character of the original architecture. The program of renovation included new lighting, HVAC, display rigging, movable partitions, window treatments, skylight replacement, life safety systems and new and restored interior finishes. The project was an exacting exercise in the special challenges of preserving a modern building. Recipient of AIA Connecticut (2004) and AIA New York State (2006) Design Awards. 

 The floor was raised two inches to accommodate new radiant heating and finished with cork     the Architect  

 Wesleyan University

Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery, Wesleyan University Center for the Arts

 Bellmont Freeman discusses the Zilkha Gallery renovation for Wesleyan University Center for the Arts. 

Belmont Freeman Architects (BFA) is a New York City firm that was founded in 1986, the practice provides elegant design solutions to complex functional, technical, and contextual challenges.Practicing across academic, civic/cultural, commercial, and residential sectors, BFA has built in North America, Europe, and Asia. Expert in the sustainable practice of historic preservation and restoration, the firm embraces environmental responsibility as essential to architecture

Belmont Freeman Architects

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