New York Public Library

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As part of a $200 million renovation, Continental Woodcraft was called upon to produce custom architectural millwork for three spaces within the Historic New York Public library: the retail store, café and the library itself.

For the retail store, Continental had a hand in helping create the versatile shelving and cabinetry units, the center glass display case as well as repurposing three existing hand carved quartered oak tables. The versatile cabinet units feature a removable red backing pin board for staff to easily switch to slats for hanging products. The upper square compartments are also fitted with acoustic paneling to help dampen the sound in the space. The antique oak tables, were resized and refinished, cut down from 12 feet to 6 feet to accommodate the retail area needs.

In maintaining some of the original design and architecture with the updated look, at the architects’ request, the fronts of the antique card catalog cabinets were replicated to be incorporated into a new retail display fixture. In addition, to allow for new, modern LED lights, solid walnut rings were handcrafted for retrofitting into the existing antique, hand-carved French walnut ceiling. The ceiling itself was damaged beyond repair so Continental was also tasked with replacing some of the paneling to match the wood architecture.

Model Ship Display, United Nations

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In commemoration of Pope Francis’ inaugural visit to the United States and to the United Nations headquarters in New York City, a handcrafted model of the Egyptian replica originally used as the ‘master plan’ model for all ships built in the early CE (common era) years was commissioned to be created and placed on display at the UN building. Continental was tasked with creating the display case for the large model ship as well as its unique backdrop. Made of reclaimed lumber that had been pulled from the Hudson River, the driftwood used for the wall framing in the display case had to be carefully looked over by hand and with the help of metal detectors to take out nails and other debris to bring the lumber back to its glory before piecing it together to form the artistic backdrop. For the casework, Continental crafted a stainless-steel floating-point system strong enough to hold the glass of the display case yet soft enough in look to work with the overall aesthetic.

This display has been seen not just by Pope Francis but by all visiting delegates of countries around the globe.