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scaffolding, scaffold, lucy the elephant, margate, nj, new jersey, superior scaffold, work deck, historic, restoration

Scaffolding a legend. Lucy the elephant, Margate NJ

August 10, 2022

You can’t miss her. They say you can see her from eight miles away. She’s big, bold, beautiful and a survivor! Lucy the Elephant, the six-story tall piece of zoomorphic architecture located in Margate, NJ, is a national landmark constructed of wood and tin sheeting featuring several rooms accessed through staircases in her legs. She was built in 1881 by James V. Lafferty to promote real estate sales and attract tourists to Margate and the Jersey Shore. And boy has she delivered. As the world’s oldest surviving example of zoomorphic architecture, she is getting a major facelift. Lucy the Elephant is having...

superior scaffold, drexel university, work deck, painting, repair, philadelphia, pa, nj, de

Scaffolding Drexel University Main Building – The “Great Court”!

June 16, 2022

by superiorscaffold

This building is a fantastic example of old world craftsmanship. Completed in 1891 it features some the coolest artwork on the 35 foot tall archway entrance to the main building on Chestnut Street – known as the “Great Portal”. Just look up and you’ll see 12 relief medallion portraits of leaders in their various fields, from Galileo to Newton, forever emblazoned on the building’s Italian Renaissance stucco representing the wide of array of disciplines taught at the university. Now, with that said, we are doing work on the inside of the main Drexel University building on the Great Court that still...

superior scaffold, Philadelphia, hanging bridge scaffold, scaffolding, river, bridge, work deck, platform, electrical, steel, iron, pa, de, nj

Spring Garden Street bridge, hanging bridge platform

February 21, 2022

by superiorscaffold

Here is a really cool and really long hanging bridge scaffold job on the Spring Garden Street bridge in Philadelphia, PA. It’s a 690 foot-long highway bridge that crosses the Schuylkill river below Fairmont Dam. It connects West Philadelphia to the Philadelphia Museum of art and Benjamin Franklin Parkway. It is the fourth bridge at this location. I’m going to put a link to the history of the bridge because it’s fascinating how many different structures have been built there since 1812. The Spring Garden Street Bridge and its sister bridge, The Martin Luther King Jr. Drive Bridge, opened in 1966 to...

Scaffolding, cantilever, shoring, transport platform, netting, pa, philadelphia, nj, de

Scaffolding Four Falls – Cantilever, transport platform, work deck and more…

February 9, 2022

by superiorscaffold

So, you’re sitting on the Schuylkill, just near the Conshohocken exit and what do you see? Traffic, of course, but what else? If you glance to the West you’ve probably seen the Four Falls office building shrouded in scaffolding and black netting. If you took the GBCA Fall Protection Competent Person Training, you’ve been in the building. Just a normal day at the office for the Superior scaffold builders, right? Well, from the highway it sure looks that way but in reality it’s an entirely different story. One that starts in the bowels of the building and juts out over the stream...

superior scaffold, gbca, award, suspended scaffold, scaffolding, pa, nj, de

Superior Scaffold wins 5th GBCA Best Specialty Contractor Award

February 2, 2022

by superiorscaffold

Superior Scaffold is proud to win the GBCA Best Specialty Contractor Award for the Reading Terminal Market Swing Solution. Each year the GBCA (General Building Contractors Association) recognizes the highest quality of workmanship and building innovation by Philadelphia area companies and we are honored to be included. Judges reviewed each nomination for workmanship, project management details, originality, innovative elements, and special techniques or materials. The project in a nutshell - there was virtually no way to get restoration crews to the side of the Reading Terminal Market building safely. So Superior Scaffold's Bob Sarkisian came up with a radical idea that...

Arthouse suspended scaffold, monorail system, glass installation, Philadelphia, pa

301 S. Broad Street – Arthaus monorail, hoist and swing system

November 8, 2021

by superiorscaffold

This one is spectacular. It really is something to see. I’m just the guy who gets to climb around on things (like a kid on a jungle gym) and take photos but I was blown away. Maybe it was the fact it was 47 stories up? Maybe it was that I got to see our crew guys casually strolling on the edge of the world carrying giant aluminum beams on their shoulders with nothing protecting them except a harness? I don’t know. Maybe it was truly the scope of the job? Or it might have been a combination of everything. I’ve been...

superior scaffold, scaffolding, scaffold, transport platform, elevator, lift, work deck, system scaffold, canopy, sidewalk shed, overhead protection, pa, de, nj, philly, philadelphia

There is no i in team

July 22, 2021

by superiorscaffold

I’ve been watching a lot of Rick Beato videos lately. He’s the guitar guru who breaks down the coolest songs on the planet lick by lick. His enthusiasm is priceless. Even if you don’t understand the music theory it’s just fun to watch his facial expressions. Like a great song, it’s the collective entirety of the band that collaborates to make one cohesive, emotional, awesome piece. And our scaffold team is no different. I shot the photos of this job and thought about the different elements that came together to make it work. The first thing that came to mind is that...

superior scaffold, pat mcandrew retirement, scaffolding, shoring, mast climber, elevator, transport platform

Retiring a legend

July 7, 2021

by superiorscaffold

There comes a time in every man’s life when they have to lay down their tools. Thirty years at the same company is a long time. Most of that spent in the field on some of the most creative and impressive scaffold jobs you’d see around Philly. And you’d ask yourself, “how’d they do that?” Oh, he didn’t do ANY of those… he was just sitting in the truck eating fruit and bologna sandwiches while the “real” scaffolders did all of the hard work. Let’s face it, anyone who worked with Pat knows he hung up his tools back in 1995 when...

scaffold, superior scaffold, work deck, bridge, nj, pa, de

Scaffolding the bridge of sighs

May 26, 2021

by superiorscaffold

Somewhere deep in the center of New Jersey, in the “Blueberry Capital of the World” is a bridge being reconditioned to transport the masses to worlds unknown. Now, I could have gone two ways on this one: Monty Python and the Holy Grail – “Answer me these questions three…” or “Why so unforgiving and why so cold? Been a long time crossing bridge of sighs…”. Either way, you are looking at bridges with historical (or farcical) significance. I chose the latter, Bridge of Sighs, that actually existed. Ponte dei Sospiri, is an enclosed bridge in Venice, Italy that passes over the...

Superior scaffold, scaffolding, scaffold, Philadelphia, PA, new jersey, wildwood, hotel, resort, ICONA, de, beach, shoring, system, work deck

Romancing the Renovation

April 21, 2021

by superiorscaffold

“Overlooking beautiful Diamond Beach on the quiet side of town, ICONA Diamond Beach Resort offers the perfect NJ vacation location: directly on one of the only private beaches in New Jersey. Also, one of only a few hotels in the Wildwood Crest area open year-round, this upscale Jersey Shore resort delights with sparkling clean, “feel-the-ocean-air” interiors by celebrity designer Blanche Garcia, spacious suites with galley kitchens, and beach attendants who set up chairs and umbrellas and serve fresh cocktails and delicious bites right on the beach." I don’t know who wrote that brilliant first paragraph from the ICONA website but they...