Bank’s Iconic Gold Dome Shines Anew
THE GEORGETOWER
By Robert Devaney • September 9, 2024
georgetowner.com
The iconic golden dome that caps off the PNC Bank at the busy intersection of M Street and Wisconsin Avenue NW has been restored.
The bank building is more that a century old and was famously occupied by Riggs Banks for decades — and its corner is one of the most photographed and recognized sites of Georgetown.
The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc., based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, contracted the Gilders’ Studio, Inc. — a local business, recognized for its work in and around Washington, D.C., and the world — to re-gild the dome.
Earlier, PNC told The Georgetowner: “The PNC Bank F&M branch in Georgetown is currently undergoing an exterior maintenance project which includes the restoration and gilding of the dome, a lighting upgrade, window replacements where needed, power washing and painting.”
“This is such a landmark space for all of Washington, D.C., and we wanted to do it right. It was not a space that we were going to do kind of half-dollar. We wanted to make the right investment for a landmark space that we have here in Washington, D.C.” Jermaine Johnson, regional president of PNC Bank, told NBC4.
“We’re native Washingtonians and we have looked at this dome for years, and when it started to deteriorate, you know, 10 to 15 years ago, we really thought, ‘We really want to do that,’ and we’re so happy that we were able … to do that, and it’s here in D.C.,” said Gilder Studio’s Michale Kramer.
The gold leaf — costing about $60 per square foot —that was applied to the dome is 99-percent pure gold, said Kramer. “It translates into about a third of a gram of gold per square foot up there.”