Then came the step-by step removal of the aluminum "slipcover" -a tricky operation, since it wasn't known exactly what conditions lay underneath.
    Finally, half the first-floor front was restored to an approximation of its original aspect. Transoms that hadn't seen the light of day in decades once again let in the sun. Cast iron, once relegated to the scrapheap but now prized as a milestone of our architectural past, came out of its aluminum closet.
    There was a problem, however. In "modernizing" one of the two storefronts, and removing two pilasters, the workers had done away with the transoms and replaced them with a horizontal steel beam topped with heavy concrete masonry.
    What to do? Removal of the beam and concrete from a century-old building could be complicated, even dangerous.
    The next-best thing was decided upon- pilasters up to the offending beam- and above that, camouflage.