Only now is the condominium's ownership doing the cleaning, facade repair and repointing that other West Side condos and co-ops pursued in the 1980's and 1990's.
The renovation of the buildings includes cleaning the facades, air- conditioning the wide corridors and new elevators.
Ms. Hanson said that the co-op board was considering cleaning the facade.
Workers are cleaning the facade and rebuilding the projecting oriel window, which was built of galvanized iron over wood framing.
Adapting the city to new needs also involved the introduction of a fully automated subway system serving the central city and suburbs, the "pedestrianization" of shopping streets, the cleaning of building facades, and the restoration of the "old quarter" (Saint-Sauveur).
"Going back to the Woodstock era and the Age of Aquarius, an architect came up with this idea of a self-cleaning building where the rain would wash down this slick glazed brick and clean the facades," said Howard L. Zimmerman, an architect with experience in restoring white brick.
When a yearlong facade cleaning was completed late this summer, it revealed a fascinating variety of coloration and pattern in the huge blocks of stone.
