Walkabout with Montrose: Hardware: Jewels in the Crown

Hardware is the jewelry on a building.

Hinges, locksets and doorknobs are functional, practical necessities to any building, and the architects of our brownstone neighborhoods, when given the opportunity, designed or commissioned works of great craftsmanship and artistry for many of our finest structures; for stately rows of houses, as well as mansions, commercial buildings and houses of worship.

Technological advances in molding and plating techniques enabled hardware companies to shape brass and bronze into exquisitely carved interior and exterior doorknobs, push plates, hinges, drawer pulls and knobs.

The advances in metal molding enabled hardware to leave the forge for the factory, making beautiful hardware affordable to the middle classes, not only the rich.

On the exteriors of our brownstone era homes, we find that imagination did not end with the more elaborate incised and carved hardware found inside the house. The original hinges, push plates, locksets and doorknobs still gracing many houses today show great style and artistry.

In Park Slope, the houses of architect CPH Gilbert are masterpieces of ironwork. The ironwork on his mansion at the corner of Carroll and 8th Avenue would cost many thousands to reproduce today, and is an amazing artwork in itself.

Gilbert’s designs, mostly done in the 1890’s, show the influence of the Arts and Crafts movement, where the handmade, individually forged designs with a distinct Medieval influence harken back to the philosophies of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, and its greatest member, William Morris.

The door to one’s castle should be attired appropriately, and these doors are all magnificent. On speculative row houses, we still find good design.

Sometimes the plates and knobs have been painted over, but we can still see excellently crafted hardware, mass produced, but imaginative and different from what we can buy today.

Sinuous snake handles, dolphins, and other whimsical shapes abound, as well as the fluid organic design of Art Nouveau. Walking around Brownstone Brooklyn, I am amazed at how many original doors still have their original hardware.

I love how so many churches and temples still sport elaborate hinges, also with medieval flair. Up and down our streets, original hardware is being uncovered and restored, and newer lock sets replaced with period reproductions.

Once again, our brownstone ladies are wearing their jewels. Take a look!

[Photos by Suzanne Spellen]