Gartek Engineering Corporation has been providing mechanical, electrical, and plumbing services for over 30 years...

Glenn H. Curtiss Mansion Design Award

08-Jan-2016

Gartek congratulates R. J. Heisenbottle our lead partners on the Curtiss Mansion Project on their AIA Miami Design Award!


Built in 1925, the Curtiss Mansion was the home of aviation pioneer Glenn Hammond Curtiss who, along with James Bright, founded the cities of Miami Springs, Hialeah and Opa-Locka.  Curtiss and Bright selected the Pueblo theme for Miami Springs, which was inspired by the architectural vocabulary of Arizona and New Mexico during the 1920s and Curtiss's then-recent trip through New Mexico on his way to Florida from Coronado, CA, where he had trained the first US Naval aviators.  The Curtiss Mansion is one of the finest examples of this hybrid style that was built in Miami Springs.

Over the years, deterioration, vandalism, neglect and multiple arson fires decimated the building into a roofless shell.  After 12 years (interrupted by the tragedy of 9/11) of painstaking fundraising efforts by Curtiss Mansion, Inc., a not-for-profit organization, the complicated and meticulous historic restoration began in 2009. R.J. Heisenbottle Architects restored and, where necessary, replicated the building’s historic character and design elements to the original 1925 configuration based on historic research and photographs.  Douglas Wood Associates and Gartek Engineering were essential in providing the structural and MEP solutions for this major rehabilitation effort that balanced a respectful treatment of the historical character while providing modern amenities. The Curtiss Mansion reopened its doors to the public in 2012 as an historic site dedicated to Glenn Curtiss’s and other's contributions to transportation history, with an accent on aviation, the home of the Curtiss Explorers and Camp Invention, as well as a rental venue for social, corporate, civic, governmental, educational and entertainment events.   


Curtiss Mansion Project


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