277 Washington Avenue, also known as the Francine Towers, is a set of two historic six-story brick apartment buildings that are connected at the ground floor and cellar, and occupy a through-block lot in the heart of the Clinton Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn. Built ca. 1925 and designed with Romanesque style details, this apartment complex is a contributing member of the Clinton Hill Historic District and continues its original residential use, serving as a condominium today.

The restoration and preservation campaign undertaken by Kamen Tall Architects, P.C. consisted of full roof replacement across both structures, replacement of all skylights, as well as restoration and repairs at all facades.  Each façade posed its own unique challenge for repair details to preserve existing decorative elements of the building and ensure long-term safety of the façade. Decorative stone was pinned in place, and the entryway water table underwent removal and reconstruction to relieve structural loads that were damaging the stone ornament. The street façade decorative parapets were removed and rebuilt to address leaning in the 8’ tall walls.  All the decorative stone elements were salvaged, cleaned, and reinstalled in the new parapet wall that matched the design of the existing.  This project spanned more than 5 years with multiple phases to address all the scope mentioned above as well as the numerous interior courtyard walls.

The restoration of 277 Washington Avenue was awarded a 2025 Award of Excellence for Facade Restoration from the International Concrete Repair Institute (ICRI) MNY.