Jim Fisher Volvo recently received a 2021 DeMuro award for Historic Preservation! R&H Construction completed a multiple phase, occupied renovation of the iconic Jim Fisher Volvo dealership on NW Burnside in downtown Portland.

The building was originally constructed in 1911 and at the time was one of the largest projects in the U.S. to utilize Virtrolite glass on the building façade. With this product being discontinued for over 60 years, our project team had to think outside of the box to ensure the historic appeal of the building remained intact!

We found we could emulate the look by painting the back and edge of glass tiles with a color that closely matched. It proved to be a challenging feat imitating the color and essence of Vitrolite. From color sampling, our team determined we needed three unique shades for both the light and dark green to achieve a consistent look across the facade of the building.

Plangrid was utilized to track and label what tile received which shade. Each of the new tiles were labeled with a number that correlated to its unique position on the building. This Tetris-like process achieved a blended look between the original Vitrolite and the new back painted glass.

Interested in learning more? View our recent portfolio of work on automotive projects.