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In addition to project work, Old Structures conducts historical research and provides educational materials with regard to preservation engineering. The list below is not exhaustive and we’ll be adding more items over time, so check back or contact us (email to Information [at] OldStructures.com) if you have any specific questions or requests.

Our latest:

  • City of Brick and Steel: The Structure of New York Buildings: here. The senior staff of Old Structures describe the hidden structure supporting the kinds of buildings you see everywhere in New York City.
  • The Structure of Skyscrapers in America, 1871–1900: Their History and Preservation by Donald Friedman: here. A history of the structural forms of early skyscrapers, how they developed, and how they can be preserved.

Research papers available for download:

  • “Hidden Strength in Historic Buildings” (Mona Abdelfatah and Donald Friedman) from the 2019 IABSE Congress The Evolving Metropolis: here.
  • “Engineering as a Prerequisite for Growth: New York and its Infrastructure” (Marie Ennis and Donald Friedman) from the 2019 IABSE Congress The Evolving Metropolis: here.
  • “New York’s Tower Building: Structural Analysis of a Proto-Skyscraper” (Gabriel Pardo Redondo and Donald Friedman) from the 2014 Structural Analysis of Historic Constructions Conference: here.
  • “Non-Destructive Testing at El Morro” (Marie Ennis) from Cultural Resource Management vol. 20 no. 10, 1997: here.
  • “Analysis of an 1864 Long-Span Truss Roof” (Donald Friedman) from the 2009 Fifth Forensic Engineering Congress of the ASCE: here. (ASCE Library: here. https://doi.org/10.1061/41082(362)46)
  • “The New York Crystal Palace: Iron Structure Without Engineering” (Gabriel Pardo Redondo and Donald Friedman) from the 2012 Structural Analysis of Historic Constructions Conference: here.
  • “Above-Ground Archaeology of Demolished Buildings” (Donald Friedman) from the 2015 Fifth International Congress on Construction History: here.
  • “Excess Capacity in Steel Columns” (Donald Friedman) from the 2016 Structural Analysis of Historic Constructions Conference: here.
  • “El ingeniero restaurador y los edificios de Nueva York” (“The Preservation Engineer and The Buildings of New York”) (Gabriel Pardo Redondo, Donald Friedman, and Berta de Miguel Alcalá) from Loggia Number 30, 2017: here. https://doi.org/10.4995/loggia.2017.6559
  • “The Engineer as Expert: Early Structural Forensic Reports in the United States” (Donald Friedman) from the 2018 Sixth International Congress on Construction History: here.
  • “The Engineer as Preservationist” (Marie Ennis) from Civil Engineering vol. 64 no. 9, 1994: here.
  • “Early Predictions of Steel-Frame Deterioration: Permanency in High-Rise Construction” (Donald Friedman) from the 2009 Third International Congress on Construction History: here.
  • “Analysis of Archaic Fireproof Floor Systems” (Donald Friedman) from the 2008 Structural Analysis of Historical Constructions Conference: here.
  • “Building Code Enforced Evolution in Early Skeleton Buildings” (Donald Friedman) from the 2006 Second International Congress on Construction History: here.
  • “Analysis of steel-structure/masonry-wall interaction in historic buildings” (Donald Friedman) from the 2004 Structural Analysis of Historical Constructions Conference: here.
  • “Evaluation of Nondestructive Methods for Determining Structural Configurations of Existing Buildings” (Marie Ennis, Robert Weber, William Windes) Technical Report TR-95/03 form the US Army Corps of Engineers’ Construction Engineering Rsearch Laboratory: here.
  • “The Darlington Building Collapse: Modern Engineering and Obsolete Systems” (Donald Friedman) from the 2006 Fourth Forensic Engineering Congress of the ASCE: here.
  • “Empire State Lessons Endure” (Donald Friedman) a 2000 opinion piece in ENR: here.

Books:

  • City of Brick and Steel: The Structure of New York Buildings, Old Structures Research, 2020: here.
  • The Structure of Skyscrapers in America, 1871–1900: Their History and Preservation (Donald Friedman), APTI, 2020: here
  • Historical Building Construction 2nd edition (Donald Friedman), Norton Professional Books, 2010: here.
  • After 9-11: An Engineer’s Work at the World Trade Center (Donald Friedman), Xlibris Books, 2002: here.
  • The Investigation of Buildings (Donald Friedman), Norton Professional Books, 2000: here.

Courses we can provide for AIA Health/safety/welfare continuing education credits (HSW CEUs.):

  • Cinder-Concrete Floors And Steel-Frame Buildings