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June 25, 2009
LPC-Approved Door Maker?
Does anyone know what manufacturers and makes are approved by Landmarks for brownstone entry doors? We are only considering replacing our ugly door if we can purchase doors that are energy efficient—double panes and low e glass……
Thanks.
Comments
The Landmarks Commission approves certain door makers?
Since when? I think it has to do more with the style of your house than with any particular door maker.
I have a feeling you and the landmarks commission may be speaking differnet languages.
Posted by: sam at June 25, 2009 12:10 PM
There aren't approved door makers per se. You have to submit shop drawings for what you want to put in and get LPC approval. In my experience replacement doors are custom-made, not from a particular manufacturer.
We used Heights Woodworking, which I recommend with reservations--a lot of folks have had bad experiences with them.
Posted by: tinarina at June 25, 2009 12:15 PM
And with a custom door you can get all the energy efficient things that you want...
Posted by: tinarina at June 25, 2009 12:16 PM
tinarina is correct. the words "custon-designed and built" have to enter the vocabularies of homeowners in Historic Districts.
If you want new doors you will need to copy the design of one of your neighbor's original doors assuming your houses are similar. The Commission doesn't care if you use insulated or low-E glass as long as it is not tinted or reflective.
Posted by: sam at June 25, 2009 12:45 PM
The shop fabricating the doors should provide you with shop drawings for submittal to LPC (including a door section, elevation, and moulding profiles). I find that it helps when it is on my titleblock. Also attached should be: a photo of the existing conditions, a photo of the adjacent property (on either side), and the color sample.
You, as the home owner, should be able to submit the aforementioned items and receive a permit rather quickly.
Posted by: southslope at June 25, 2009 1:08 PM
I think the original poster was asking if they could get 'non-custom' doors - like Anderson or such - that meet LPC approval. And, you know, NOT spend $10K....
Posted by: epkwy at June 25, 2009 1:40 PM
The Commission will not approve a non-custom door.
They are fussy that way.
Posted by: sam at June 25, 2009 2:00 PM
I should clarify: the Commission will approve non-custom doors for the back of the house, and possibly for beneath the stoop, but not for the front door, which is one of the most important features of any house.
Posted by: sam at June 25, 2009 2:05 PM
So can the LC force you to change a decrepit door if you don't want to because you don't have a spare 10 grand?
Posted by: cmu at June 25, 2009 2:16 PM
I think the LPC can only force/fine you if there's an existing violation for the door. And we didn't spend 10k, but it is easy to spend that much. And you can save a lot of money if you can refurbish/retrofit a salvage door.
Posted by: tinarina at June 25, 2009 2:27 PM
So they wouldn't approve a Jeld-Wen door like this?:
http://www.jeld-wen.com/attributes/universal_large_image.cfm/attribute_id/6411/property_id/34596
Is this considered custom?
If they want me to match my neighbors I can buy a $100 home depot door with a fan light at the top!
Posted by: PHfamily at June 25, 2009 2:38 PM
They may allow the Jeld-Wen door if the house had a simple square-head, wood and glass door like that originally. Most late nineteenth century brownstones have more elaborate front doors.
Posted by: sam at June 25, 2009 3:00 PM
I'm not landmarked. I had a great connversation with southslope about redoing my entryway but in the end I didn't want to spen that amount of money to bring it back to original. If my house was going to be worth $3MM or so in the near future, it would be worth it. The casing work that was there was really well done with fluted pilasters, the door was crap.
So, I replaced the modern door with this door from this place in Maine. Would this pass LPC, I don't know.
Some of the others with square top windows might.
http://www.archantiquities.com/doors/26068053Photos%20021.jpg.php
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at June 25, 2009 3:21 PM
LPC does not have pre-approved windows or doors, nor do they have pre-approved fabricators. Though many fabricators/installers will tell you they are "landmarks approved", such a thing does not exist.
To say that LPC will never allow a non-custom door is also incorrect. However, each case is different, and it depends on what is there now, what was there historically, and what you propose to install.
LPC cannot force you to replace a door, however if you want to replace a door, you need LPC to approve the new door. If you have a decrepit non-historic door, you could repair it - if you had to replace it, LPC would require that it be historically appropriate.
Posted by: WBer at June 25, 2009 4:09 PM
To clarify, as tinarina said, LPC can force you replace a door if it was installed without permits. If its grandfathered, though, you can keep it and repair it.
Posted by: WBer at June 25, 2009 4:52 PM
Unfortuntaly we have a terrible home depot off the shelf type of door now, so there is nothing to repair. This is door that came with the house when we bought it and according to the tax photos has been here for quite a while.As for the original doors on the block, they are typical rectangular entry doors and are not very elaborate at all...
Thanks for the info. We plan on doing everything via the correct route so we will follow up with LPC with photos and a few options.
Posted by: PHfamily at June 25, 2009 5:40 PM
You might want to look at salvage doors. Craig's List sometimes has them & there are companies that have fluctuating inventory.
Posted by: Arkady at June 25, 2009 6:19 PM
Arkady, a salvage door is great for the interior or maybe for the rear facade, but for the front door, the commission is going to want nothing less than an accurate reproduction of the original door. That's it. It isn't complicated. The design for the new doors can be copied from a neighbor that retains the historic door (no, not the neighbor with the Home Depot door). The door will be more expensive than an off the shelf door but it will fit the opening perfectly and it will be gorgeous. If you can't afford gorgeous right now, wait a year or two, they won't make you take the existing door down. But really, a beautiful door is so worth it. Why nickel and dime that? This is the blog where people look their noses down on granite kitchen counters and top of the line American appliances. A beautiful front door would be more important to me as a home owner than a German wine refrigerator or one of those turbo-burner stoves.
Posted by: sam at June 25, 2009 7:21 PM
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