Signature Ultimate, Signature Modern, Elevate and Essential windows and doors, surveyed, supplied and installed by Alex Glass Construction in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Long Island and New Jersey.
Where to buy Marvin in New York and New Jersey: Alex Glass Construction is a supplier and installer of Marvin windows and doors. We survey, quote, and install Marvin across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island, on Long Island and in Northern New Jersey, from our shop and showroom at 7 Beach Street, Staten Island. Call 929-235-1233 or request a Marvin quote.
Marvin projects we have completed, by area:
Manhattan: 205 East 69th Street Penthouse · East 71st Street, Upper East Side
Brooklyn: 126 Washington Avenue, Clinton Hill
What are Marvin windows? Marvin is a family-owned American window and door manufacturer, founded in Warroad, Minnesota in 1912, that builds made-to-order windows and doors in wood, extruded aluminum cladding and its own pultruded fiberglass, Ultrex. The range is four lines: Signature Ultimate (wood interior, aluminum-clad exterior, the most customizable), Signature Modern (large glass, narrow frames, push-out casements), Elevate (Ultrex exterior, wood interior) and Essential (Ultrex inside and out).
Who installs Marvin windows in New York City? Alex Glass Construction supplies and installs Marvin across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island, Long Island and New Jersey: we survey the openings, prepare the drawings a co-op board or the Landmarks Preservation Commission asks for, order the units, and install with our own crews. Call 929-235-1233 or request a Marvin quote.
Which Marvin line should I choose? Signature Ultimate for a landmarked or high-end townhouse, Signature Modern for large contemporary glass, Elevate for a house that wants a wood interior with a maintenance-free face, Essential for rear, side and utility openings or volume work. Mixing lines on one house, Ultimate on the street and Essential at the back, is common and saves money.
Marvin is a family-owned American manufacturer with a reputation built on two things: proprietary Ultrex fiberglass, and a willingness to build almost anything to order. Everything is made in the United States, and the range is organized by how much design flexibility you need rather than by a simple good-better-best ladder.
The material story is what sets Marvin apart from most competitors. Where others reach for vinyl in the frame, Marvin builds from fiberglass, wood and extruded aluminum and keeps vinyl components to a minimum. That is a cost decision they have declined to make, and it shows in both the price and the long-term behavior of the product.
This page covers the four lines and what actually separates them, the Ultrex material and why it matters, glass and divided lite options, and where Marvin is and is not the right answer. Current specifications are on Marvin's website, which opens in a separate window.
Most of what distinguishes Marvin comes back to Ultrex, their pultruded fiberglass. Pultrusion pulls glass fibers through resin and a heated die, producing a section with the fibers running continuously along its length. The result is dimensionally stable and considerably stronger than extruded vinyl.
The property that matters most is thermal expansion. Fiberglass expands and contracts at close to the same rate as glass. Vinyl moves several times more. In a vinyl window the frame and the sealed unit are constantly working against each other through every temperature cycle, and over years that is what fatigues seals and opens up mechanical joints. A fiberglass frame moves with the glass rather than against it.
Strength has a second consequence: a stronger frame can be thinner for the same structural job. That means more glass and less frame in the same rough opening, which is both a performance gain and a visual one.
Ultrex also takes a finish well and does not chalk, peel, rot or warp, so the exterior needs no maintenance beyond washing. On a New York rowhouse where the exterior face is difficult to reach, that is worth real money over twenty years.
Marvin organizes by degree of customization and by material combination rather than by tier.
| Collection | Line | Materials | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Signature most customizable | Ultimate | Wood interior, extruded aluminum clad exterior | Restoration, luxury custom, historic detailing |
| Modern | High-density fiberglass exterior, aluminum interior | Contemporary work, large glass, narrow sightlines | |
| Elevate | — | Ultrex fiberglass exterior, wood interior | Wood interior warmth with low-maintenance exterior |
| Essential | — | Ultrex fiberglass inside and out | Zero-maintenance, volume work, clean lines |
Signature Ultimate is the top of the range and the most customizable product Marvin makes — wood interiors in multiple species, extruded aluminum cladding, an extensive color and finish palette, and the ability to handle unusual shapes and sizes. This is the line for a restoration or a genuinely custom house.
Signature Modern is a different proposition rather than a step down. High-density fiberglass exteriors with aluminum interiors, engineered for large glass areas and narrow sightlines. It is also the line that offers push-out casements and automated operation.
Elevate pairs an Ultrex fiberglass exterior with a natural wood interior. It is the practical middle of the range and, for most high-end residential replacement work, the sensible landing point — the warmth of wood where you see and touch it, a maintenance-free fiberglass face to the weather.
Essential is Ultrex inside and out. No wood, no finishing, nothing to maintain. Clean lines and a streamlined option list, which is exactly what suits volume work or a house where the interior finish is not the point.
This is worth raising because clients rarely think of it and it saves real money.
The lines share styling closely enough that you can specify different ones on different elevations. Put Ultimate or Elevate on the street-facing openings where the detail is seen and judged, and Essential on the rear, the side elevation, the basement and the utility spaces.
The difference is invisible from the street and the saving across twenty openings is substantial. We would rather help you spend the budget where it shows than sell one specification for the whole house because it is simpler to quote.
The Modern line offers a push-out casement, which removes the crank entirely — the sash is unlatched and pushed open by hand, held by friction hinges.
For period and restoration work this matters. Original casements had no cranks, and on a house where the windows are being replaced to match a historic appearance, a projecting crank handle is exactly the wrong detail. It also removes the interference between crank handle and window treatment that fold-down cranks were invented to solve.
The trade-off is reach. A push-out casement has to be physically reachable, which rules it out above a kitchen counter or a deep sill. Crank-operated casements remain the answer there.
Marvin offers dual and triple-pane glazing with Low-E coatings tuned by climate, argon fill as standard on insulated units, and specialty options including laminated for security and noise and tempered where code requires.
Divided lites are where Marvin's customization shows most clearly. Three approaches are available and they are not equivalent.
Authentic divided lite uses individually glazed panes separated by real muntins — the genuine article, and the only option that will satisfy the strictest historic requirements.
Simulated divided lite applies permanent bars to the exterior and interior with a spacer bar aligned inside the sealed unit, producing real shadow lines. This satisfies most designations and is the usual choice on restoration work.
Grilles between the glass sit inside the cavity. Easiest to clean, but flat-looking from outside with no shadow line. Available on Essential; the Elevate and Signature lines offer the more convincing simulated divided lite.
Patterns can be replicated to match an existing window, which is the point on landmark work. Send us a photograph and a measurement of what is there.
Against Andersen: the closest comparison. Andersen's Fibrex is a wood-fiber and polymer composite; Marvin's Ultrex is pultruded fiberglass. Both outperform vinyl substantially. Andersen's range is broader at the budget end; Marvin holds a more consistent material standard across its lines and generally offers deeper customization at the top.
Against Pella: Pella wins on integrated features — blinds between the glass, Rolscreen. Marvin wins on material consistency and on large-format capability in the Modern line.
Against European systems such as Cortizo or Reynaers: different products for different problems. If you want tilt-and-turn operation, very narrow aluminum sightlines or minimalist sliding systems, the European systems do that better. If you want a wood interior, American detailing, and domestic parts availability, Marvin does.
Against vinyl such as Alside or Crystal: a different budget conversation entirely. Where cost per opening governs a twenty-window replacement, vinyl is the honest answer and we will say so.
Marvin suits high-end residential replacement and new build, restoration where divided lites have to convince, and contemporary work needing large glass with narrow frames.
It is generally not the right answer for budget-driven volume replacement, or where a landmark designation demands a steel profile — Optimum covers that.
As with everything, installation decides whether the window performs as specified. The frame perimeter gets tied into the wall's air and water barrier, sill pan flashing goes in with end dams, and weep paths are left clear. A well-made window in a badly detailed opening will still leak, and that failure is not covered by any manufacturer's warranty.
Tell us the openings, the architecture and the budget, and we will tell you which line fits — including when the answer is a different brand.
We supply and install Marvin across the New York area, and the right line changes with the building. Each area below has its own page with neighborhoods, building types, the approvals involved and the projects we have done there.
Townhouses on the Upper East Side, Upper West Side and in the Village, most of them landmarked, and pre-war co-ops. The rebuilt townhouse on East 71st Street carries Marvin Ultimate wood double-hungs on the street rooms, Low-E3 argon glass at a U-factor of 0.28; the penthouse at 205 East 69th Street has a Marvin outswing terrace door flashed into the brick beside custom steel windows. See Marvin in Manhattan.
Brownstones and rebuilt townhouses in Clinton Hill, Fort Greene, Park Slope, Carroll Gardens and Brooklyn Heights, and new custom houses in southern Brooklyn. 126 Washington Avenue in Clinton Hill is Marvin double-hungs on a rebuilt brick front with an arched aluminum dormer above. See Marvin in Brooklyn.
Custom houses and renovations in the Five Towns, on the North Shore and in Suffolk, where Marvin competes with Pella and Andersen on clad-wood casements and French doors, and Elevate or Essential fiberglass earns its place near the water. See Marvin on Long Island.
Houses in Bergen, Essex, Morris, Union and Monmouth counties, from Montclair and Ridgewood colonials to new construction at the Shore, with the town permit filed by us. See Marvin in New Jersey.
Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island are covered from our Staten Island shop; see Queens and Staten Island.
Marvin does not publish prices and neither do we, because the same opening can be quoted in Essential, Elevate or Signature Ultimate at prices far apart. What moves the number, in order: the line and material (Ultrex fiberglass, Ultrex with a wood interior, or wood with aluminum cladding); the size and whether it is a standard or a custom shape; divided lites and their type (grilles between the glass, simulated or authentic); interior finish (bare, primed or factory-finished wood, and the species); exterior color, with the Ultimate palette and custom matches at the top; glass make-up (Low-E3 argon is standard, laminated or triple adds); and the installation conditions, including scaffolding on a townhouse front, landmark filing and the removal of the existing frames. We quote per opening with everything named and usually price a second line alongside so you can see what each step up buys.
126 Washington Avenue, Clinton Hill Where this brand sits: budget, standard and premium lines · Wood & Clad Wood Windows Andersen Windows Pella Alside Casement Windows Double-Hung Windows Low-E Glass
Tell us about the opening and we will specify it for you.
Alex Glass Construction supplies and installs Marvin Signature, Elevate and Essential windows and doors across the five boroughs, Long Island and New Jersey, with survey, drawings and installation by our own crews.
Usually Marvin Signature Ultimate, which offers the wood interiors, divided lites and custom sizes that a townhouse or landmarked facade calls for; the East 71st Street townhouse used Marvin Ultimate throughout.
Yes, with the same survey, written quote per opening and installation by our crews across Nassau, western Suffolk and Northern New Jersey.
Typically five to twelve weeks from the approved order, depending on the line, finish and shape; custom and arched units take the longest.
Yes. Marvin's divided-lite patterns, exterior colors and sill profiles are chosen to match the neighbors or the original, as on 126 Washington Avenue in Clinton Hill.
It depends on the line, size, divided lites, finish, glass and the installation conditions; the same opening can be quoted in Essential, Elevate or Signature Ultimate at prices far apart. We quote per opening with everything named, usually with a second line priced alongside, and the quote is free.
Yes. The rebuilt townhouse on East 71st Street has Marvin Ultimate wood double-hungs on its street rooms and the penthouse at 205 East 69th Street has a Marvin terrace door; we work across the Upper East Side, Upper West Side, the Village and the pre-war co-ops. See our Marvin in Manhattan page.
Yes. 126 Washington Avenue in Clinton Hill carries Marvin double-hungs on a rebuilt brick front, and we install across the brownstone districts and the new houses of southern Brooklyn. See our Marvin in Brooklyn page.
Usually, when the line, the divided-lite pattern and the profile match what the designation or the block standard requires; Signature Ultimate with simulated or authentic divided lites is accepted regularly. We prepare the filing with elevations and sections.
Each is better at something. Marvin leads on custom sizes and shapes, wood interiors and large contemporary glass in the Modern line; Pella on integrated features such as blinds between the glass; Andersen on value in the 400 Series. We carry all three and quote the one that fits the opening and the budget.
Yes, and we recommend it. The lines share styling closely enough that the difference is invisible from the street, and Essential or Elevate on the rear, side and utility openings cuts the cost of a whole-house package substantially.
