Giroux Glass has been servicing greater Los Angeles for nearly 75 years. With our top-of-line glazing expertise and emphasis on quality and professionalism, we’ve had the privilege of working on some truly stunning properties over the decades. In this post, we highlight three recent projects that involved particularly notable architectural glass installations, all of which required an advanced degree of skill to successfully execute. Read on to learn more about these special cases, and how our team rose to the unique challenges each presented. If you appreciate these impressive projects, head over to our image gallery for more inspiring projects we’ve had the honor to work on.
Sheats-Goldstein Residence
The team at Giroux Glass has been contributing our glazing expertise to the landmark Sheats-Goldstein residence for over 20 years.
Located in Los Angeles’ Benedict Canyon neighborhood, the home was designed by iconic mid-century architect John Lautner. Since its construction, it has been featured prominently in movies like Charlie’s Angels and The Big Lebowski, and has been used as a photo shoot backdrop for editorials in Vanity Fair, Esquire, GQ and more, as well as fashion campaigns for Dior, Gucci, Hugo Boss, and others.
The residence is located on a steep hillside, which allows for incredible views but makes glass installation particularly difficult, especially given the size of the property’s windows. One particularly tricky installation involved maneuvering and setting huge 14’ glass panels that weighed over 1,000 pounds each. To execute this task, our team found a way to transport and operate both a Spydercrane and a Gradall on the hillside.
The home’s unique aesthetic elements also make for difficult glass work, since there are virtually no right angles in its structure. The unconventional design of the home’s glasswork requires unique, angular cuts of glass and incredibly precise installation.
The Sheats-Goldstein Residence is an architectural jewel with a historical past. For more information and a complete slide show, view our case study of this luxury residence.
71Above
Unrivaled panoramic views of Los Angeles are now available to everyone thanks to 71Above, the fine-dining restaurant situated on the 71st floor of the iconic U.S. Bank Tower.
The U.S. Bank Tower was designed by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners and completed in 1989. Its height of 1,018 feet made it the tallest building in the city of Los Angeles, the state of California, and west of the Mississippi for nearly 30 years. It was only recently surpassed by the spire at the new Wilshire Grand Center, erected in 2016.
Located on the top floor of the tower, the restaurant 71Above was conceived by renowned restaurateur Emil Eyvazoff, offering high-end cuisine served alongside astonishing views of the city. Giroux Glass was commissioned to realize the space’s intricate 360-degree window design.
Read the whole case study to get all the details on this one-of-a-kind restaurant.
Paul Hastings Tower
Originally known as the ARCO Towers, City National Plaza in downtown Los Angeles is now home to the Paul Hastings tower. Both buildings in this set of twin 52-story skyscrapers were completed in 1972 and designed by AC Martin & Associates.
The buildings may reflect each other in their design, but it was only the Paul Hastings tower that our team was tasked with upgrading, replacing old pieces of bronze glass on the 51st floor, and replacing granite blocks on the 52nd floor, with ultra-clear, low-iron Starphire glass.
To complete this challenging project, the team had to find a way to get 10-foot by 7-foot glass units to the roof of the building — without using the freight elevator that proved too small. What that means was that people dining at nearby, ground-level Drago Centro were in for dinner and a show, as a large crane often used two thick, wire cables to transfer glass and other material from the ground floor up to the rooftop.
Read the whole case study to get all the details on this enviable office space.
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