- [Man 1] When Congress established the Historic Preservation Act of 1966,
they declared that the spirit and direction of our nation are founded
upon and reflected by our historic heritage.
- [Woman 1] The Cannon Building is 100 years old.
- [Man 2] It's the oldest office building under the Architect of the Capitol.
- [Woman 2] It also represents our government.
- Honestly, I mean, I'm in awe when I walk through and see where
Teddy Roosevelt walked.
- Historic preservation is the intentional actions we take to identify
heritage assets, to document their existing condition, and then to maintain
and repair them for future generations.
- The goal of preservation for this project is to maintain and preserve
as much historic fabric as possible.
- And it's very important to preserve that past in order to inform the future.
- The mission to serve, preserve, and inspire is also the mission
of historic preservation in general. The methodology, as we look through the
repair process for either stone or plaster is really to find the least destructive,
the minimal to stabilize, and the maximum lifespan that we can get
out of the original material.
- And as part of our research for the Cannon Project, we undertook paint
analysis in the public spaces of the building.
- We cleaned the Guastavino tile with a latex, a peel-away cleaner.
- The unique aspects of the Guastavino tile are they allow you to build a
very shallow, vaulting or domed structure with very little support
from below during the installation of the system, and they provide a very strong and
durable structural component once they're installed.
- The historic light fixtures have been removed from the building.
They're all being rewired, cleaned, refurbished, and they are now
being reinstalled.
- I think one of the big improvements that's being made to the building is the
removal of end closures at the corridor that had connected the public corridors
to the direct light from the outside. As part of the renewal,
we're reopening those spaces which will transform them in a very human way.
- Anything that has a reuse is being salvaged.
- Windows on Cannon, through the years, had really deteriorated. They aren't new
windows that are going back in. They are the original windows with as much the
original glass and original wood material, which for a 100-year-old building
is amazing.
- It only gets replaced if it's not repairable.
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- The fifth floor of the Cannon building, the elements that you'll see, are inspired
by the building below and replicate, and align, and keep the rhythm
of the building, but they don't have the same materials, but they have the same
architectural intent.
- One of the standards is that you don't create a false sense of history and that
you make interventions like the fifth floor of the Cannon look enough different
that people know that it's not part of the original construction.
- From a structural standpoint, it was appropriate to do something that we
could actually accomplish without major interventions on the more historic
elements of the façade.
- We have these beautiful buildings that we want to maintain their architectural
integrity and the historic elements, but we need to work to get the modern-day
systems in there. How do you get sprinkler pipes through an area that has structural
brick and decorative molding?
- What you won't see is all the mechanical systems, and security systems,
and safety systems that are going to be embedded behind these walls.
- So no one's ever going to know that it's there, but it is completely compliant
to code and back to a standard that you would have in any new building.
- The Cannon Renewal will allow the members of Congress that occupy the
building to be able to function in a building with the look and feel of 1908
with 21st-century technology.
- The mission of the Architect of the Capitol is to serve, preserve,
and inspire. And the restoration of this building includes all of those,
serving Congress and the American people who come visit, preserving the building
and the artwork, and inspiring visitors to come, not just now but 100 years from now.
- To be able to preserve that, and improve it, and ensure that it's going
to last another 100 years is a pretty exciting thing to be involved with.
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