For more than 40 years, Charles Pankow was a pioneer in concrete-forming technology and a champion of the design-build method for faster and more efficient construction of buildings. During his distinguished career, Pankow invented processes for manufacturing hollow concrete piles, created innovative systems for increasing project automation, and is perhaps best
known for his leadership in the development of moment-frame technology that has advanced the science of earthquake resistant construction.

Pankow was also well known as a connoisseur of the arts, having established a considerable collection of ancient Egyptian, Chinese and Russian artifacts. In 1982 he acquired a historic mansion on Washington Street in the affluent Pacific Heights area of San Francisco. The house, built in 1904, had a façade inspired by the garden front of Le Petit Trianon at Versailles and overlooked San Francisco Bay. He turned this building into a private museum that was said to house the largest privately held art collection in the world.

In October 2001, Chemprobe’s Series 617 Conformal Stain WB was used to restore the exterior of the museum, which required custom color matching to the various colors of the natural sandstone substrate. The water-based acrylic stain was chosen because of local environmental regulations and for its low sheen as the appearance of a paint film was not acceptable on this project. Series 617 provides color uniformity and does not alter the natural texture of the surface.

After a site check in October 2005, Chemprobe/Tnemec coating consultant Carl Bowers reported, “the building looks beautiful and shows no signs of weathering. The coating looks as good as the day it was applied.”