The Pump House

Previously known as the James Avenue Pumping Station, this brick building was constructed in 1906 to address the city’s need for an adequate water supply system for firefighting.  Today, this remarkable heritage building has been reinvented as commercial and residential spaces which includes the Pumphouse West Apartments.  The original pumphouse is retained, with three mixed-use buildings on the east and west ends of the parcel.  A floor plate installed above the original historic floor allows views of the great pump hall with its turn-of-the-century machinery.

Pumphouse West is part of a three-phased development where Phase 1 was completed in Spring 2018 while Phase 2 was completed in August 2020.  One of the challenges that needed to be addressed was that of the HRV system that optimized balancing comfort of the occupants and preservation of the historicity of the building structure.  The installation of the systems had to be aesthetically compatible with the building exterior, where SCMI installed state of the art VRF (Variable Refrigerant Flow) systems that met the requirements and limitations that are inherent to historic building projects, with the combination of flexibility and overall cost benefits that make it a preferred choice.

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