– PROJECT REVIEW TRAVIS MILLWORK, INC. + J.E. TRAVIS PAINTING, INC.
Thomas Jefferson High School
Historic Auditorium Seating Restoration
1,875 historic auditorium seats, pulled one row at a time, restored on site, and bolted back exactly where they started.
CLIENT:
San Antonio ISD
Project Size:
$1M to $1.5M
Timeline:
2022
General Contractor:
The restored auditorium at Thomas Jefferson High School, San Antonio.
Scope: auditorium seat restoration, new veneer, stain and finish, metal refinishing, historic trim.
The Jefferson High School Scope
♦ What we did
Thomas Jefferson High School opened in 1932 and is a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark. The renovation phase Travis worked on touched about two thirds of the campus, from the cafeteria and corridors to the woodwork and lockers. Bartlett Cocke brought Travis in because the company has its own mill shop.
The centerpiece was the auditorium. Travis Millwork pulled the seats, stripped the damaged veneer, and laid new veneer with a vacuum press. J.E. Travis Painting stained and sealed the wood and refinished the historic metal frames. Millwork then bolted each seat back into place.
1,875 seats. Every one came out, and every one went back where it started.
♦ The Challenges
Every seat had a history and a spot. The architect walked the room and marked a plan for all 1,875 seats, across four seat types. Shipping them back to the shop risked lost parts, so Travis built a shop on site. A shipping container became a spray booth with its own exhaust. Millwork worked under pop-up tents beside it. Crews pulled a couple of rows at a time, tracked every piece, and reinstalled in sequence. Federal grant money meant everything was done by the book. The auditorium alone took about nine months.
Restoring something?
Call Travis Companies.
Credits: General Contractor: Bartlett Cocke. Owner: San Antonio ISD. Architect: Perkins and Will. Photography: BILT Marketing. San Antonio, Texas.
Travis Companies brings commercial painting and custom architectural millwork together under one family of companies, serving projects across Texas since 1886.
San Antonio
(210) 525-8088
Austin
Estimating
Office
235 W Turbo Dr, San Antonio