Crown Sheet Metal & Skylights: A Fifty Year Legacy
Crown Sheet Metal & Skylights, a family-owned operation specializing in commercial skylights, architectural and historic sheet metal work offers a legacy of multi-generational craftsmanship to the Bay Area.
Crown Sheet Metal & Skylights was founded in the ‘70s by Don Dennehy Sr. At the time, Don Sr. was a full-time firefighter doing sheet metal contracting work on the weekends because he liked the work and was good at it. When unexpected medical bills hit Don’s young family, he decided to start his own company.
Today, his son Don Dennehy Jr. works as vice president of the company, which employs some 20 workers and remains family-owned and operated. Don Jr. has worked for Crown for 41 years; 15 of those he spent working in the field and in the shop. Once he got a handle on estimating, though, the office slowly became his home.
For much of Crown Sheet Metal & Skylights’ history, the company focused solely on skylights. It wasn’t until the late ‘90s that Crown got into architectural and historical sheet metal work in a big way.
“We noticed that there was a real opportunity in the market to do specialty sheet metal work, and it was pretty similar to our core work — it’s got to have good fit and finish, it’s got to be neat — so it was a natural thing to pick up,” Don Jr. says.
This expansion into architectural and historical restoration led to some prestigious projects across the Bay Area and beyond, including a complete renovation of the detailed metalwork atop the historic Mark Hopkins Hotel.
At the time this article was written, Crown was wrapping up their roughly $1.4 million restoration of the historic Ghirardelli Clock Tower.
“We’re removing and rebuilding all the metalwork on the tower, which has a lot of really decorative dormers and a crow’s nest at the top with finials on it,” Don Jr. says. “It’s been a fun project.”
The clock tower was built in 1916 as part of the five-building Ghirardelli Square, where the company made chocolate until the early ‘60s. The tower now houses a luxury hotel, and this is the first time the roof and decorative sheet metal adornments have seen any repair or replacement.
Some 10 minutes south of Ghirardelli Square, Crown is working on a $1 million project to replace all the copper gutters, copings, flashings and crickets on the historic St. Dominic’s Church, as well as the roof’s copper ridge.
While Crown’s work often demands traditional craftsmanship, they’ve incorporated modern technology where appropriate.
“We do have a bunch of old tools left, but we also use these new folding machines,” Don Jr. explains. “They’re essentially a leaf brake that’s CNC. We can program it and it does all the bending for us.”
The company also utilizes CAD drawings and partners with a company that provides laser-cut parts for certain projects.
Despite these technological advances, Crown remains “a labor-based company because a lot of the stuff we do is old-fashioned-built,” emphasizing the irreplaceable value of skilled sheet metal workers.
Perhaps nothing speaks to Crown’s quality better than their current work replacing skylights they installed nearly 30 years ago at the Vacaville Cultural Center Library. When you’ve been in the skylight business since the ‘70s, this sort of thing happens with increasing frequency. If your work is of the utmost quality, that is.
“It’s amazing. We were looking at a skylight job the other day and I knew we’d installed the original skylights in 1997,” Don Jr. says. “It’s great that our customers get such long service from our work, and it’s great they call us when it’s time for replacement. We probably have glass units out there that are 50-plus years old.”
This longevity is a testament to Crown’s core values, which Don Jr. describes as “excellent workmanship quality, integrity, family mentality, caring for employees and being really safety-oriented.”
“We work in a lot of places that are hard to get to, so safety is our number one priority,” he adds.
Beyond their commercial work, Crown works to support the community it serves, donating time and resources to their local church, the Moose Lodge and the Bay Area Loaves and Fishes family kitchen food pantry. The Dennehy family also supports A Chance In Life, a nonprofit dedicated to uplifting at-risk youth around the world.
As Crown Sheet Metal & Skylights continues into its fifth decade of operation, the company stands as a shining example of how specialized trade skills, family values and commitment to quality craftsmanship can create a lasting legacy in the construction industry.