In Part One we looked at some types of door hardware which were common prior to the mid-nineteenth century — latches and rim locks made of iron. While mortise locks were in use, they were not common. Surface-mounted rim locks remained popular in the latter half of the nineteenth century while mortise locks became more mainstream… and acquired more decorative external trappings. Rosettes and escutcheons became highly ornamental – and were frequently cast in brass or bronze. The look of door hardware was becoming more refined…
The large iron rim lock seen here was typical of many front doors in the 1840’s and 1850’s. This one is the perfect complement to this Greek Revival entry dating to 1854. Image source: oldhousedreams.com
Interior doors of the 1850’s frequently were fitted with smaller rim locks such as this one. It sports a pair of mineral knobs of the type associated with Bennington, Vermont and Albany, New York. Image courtesy of Devyn Caldwell, OurPhillyRow.com
Latches of the type we saw in Part One remained popular. The latch seen in this catalog cut was in production for decades. Image source: Sargent & Co. 1871 catalog via archive.org
Here, the same latch is joined by later hardware in Devyn’s 1852 row house. Nice newel post, too! Image courtesy of Devyn Caldwell, OurPhillyRow.com
Period hardware catalogs such as this one provide a wealth of information about historic hardware. Image source: Wm. M. McClure & Brother 1860 catalog via archive.org
By 1860, mortise locks were being promoted but rim locks were still very popular. Three of the four options shown here are mortise locks. Image source: Wm. M. McClure & Brother 1860 catalog via archive.org
The growing popularity of the mortise lock in the 1850’s and 60’s invited changes to the way knobs and keyholes would be dealt with. Those who wished to be fashionable could select ceramic knobs with matching rosettes and key hole covers. Image source: oldhousedreams.com
Mirrored glass knobs were simultaneously popular with the avant-garde. Though called “mercury glass”, these knobs contained no mercury. This one has a silver-plated collar.
The masses, however, still found rim locks to be practical. Their look was being upgraded and the formerly plain surfaces were now sometimes ornamented with scenes or images. This lock, depicting an eagle, was first produced in the 1850’s but has been newly reproduced in recent years. Image source: 1865 Russell and Erwin Illustrated Catalog of American Hardware.
The trend toward ornament continued. This 1863 rim lock by the Norwalk Lock Company shows edge and corner elaboration.
By the 1870’s, many pieces of cast iron hardware were ornamented as imaginatively as this petite rim lock (likely intended for a closet).
Sometime in the late 1860’s, the market for high-end, showy, hardware took off. The well-to-do filled their homes with exquisite hardware of cast bronze such as these examples here. Entire sets featuring a common design included hinges, escutcheons of various types, window catches, sash lifts, bin pulls, hooks, etc. The variety and selection was mind-numbing. Image source: Russell and Erwin Manufacturing Co. 1874 catalog via archive.org
The level of quality and detail achieved is nothing short of phenomenal. Scorned in the 1940’s and 50’s, today such hardware brings top dollar at architectural antiques stores.
The 1870’s were the high-water mark for sophistication in door hardware; quality and detail began a slow but sure decline after that period. Image source: Russell and Erwin Manufacturing Co. 1874 catalog via archive.org
Most of us settled for cast brass in the 1880’s. These knobs are nearly as exquisite as their bronze counterparts but of noticeably lesser quality. Examples of the last knob are seen below. Image source: 1887 Orr & Lockett Hardware Company catalog via archive.org
These knobs show a century of use; the brass has worn and the pattern at the edges is no longer sharp.
This iron mortise lock with cast brass face was intended for a pocket door; the recess mirrors the shape of the mating door’s bullnose astragal. Image source: 1881 Branford Lock Works catalog via archive.org.
Here is an example of the same lock, with the bolt and pull retracted.
The 1880’s also witnessed the marketing of wooden door knobs, seen at right. Image source: 1887 Orr & Lockett Hardware Company catalog via archive.org
This example of a wood knob is seen in the next-to-last catalog illustration above. Sadly, I do not have the accompanying wood rosette; I would guess that they were somewhat fragile.
The 1890’s were a somewhat confusing period, if period hardware catalogs offer any reflection of the times. Offered simultaneously were highly ornamental specimens in cast bronze and astonishingly austere hardware of lesser metals. The times were changing, but not everyone was ready to embrace the future. Something for everyone! Image source: 1894 Phoenix Lock Works catalog via archive.org
The 1890’s also ushered in a greater interest in stylistic cohesion. It was not unusual for hardware catalogs of the time to group their offerings into various design classifications, or schools. Popular schools in the 90’s included Colonial, Greek, Renaissance, French Renaissance, Romanesque, Moorish, Empire, Art Nouveau, etc. The ornamental design seen here was classified as Gothic; it bears a strong resemblance to the sixteenth-century etching by Daniel Hopfer titled “Ornament with Thistle“. Image source: 1897 Yale & Towne Manufacturing Company catalogue via archive.org
Yale and Towne’s Gothic “Kelp” design was chosen for the entry of the 1894 Cross House in Emporia, Kansas. The unusual knob resembles a Celtic cross… how appropriate for the Cross family! I can’t help but wonder if this symbolism was intended by the architect, Charles Squires. I suspect it was, as interior hardware on the rest of the ground floor is of the Empire school. The house is fortunate to retain hardware which boasts a beautifully subdued (yet lustrous) patina which can only be acquired by time — and which is widely imitated (with disappointing results) by plumbing manufacturers today (think of the marketing term “oil rubbed bronze“!). Image courtesy of RestoringRoss.com
Also found in the Cross House is this simple knob and escutcheon which anticipate the changes soon to arrive in the twentieth century. In the Cross House such hardware was limited to service areas. Image courtesy of RestoringRoss.com
Door hardware continued to simplify, not just in outward appearance but in composition as well. By the turn of the century an increasing number of escutcheons were made of stamped metal with plated finishes and a decreasing number were of cast brass or iron. Once again, change was on the horizon… Image source: 1900 Pease Company catalog via archive.org.
your column speaks to the architectural effete as well as to the common clay of which, I guess, I am one. astragal bull nose indeed.
speaking of meaningless trivia, I also subscribe to a blog called “the computer geek ” who has , in addition to the latest computorial effluvia, a daily fact. so related to your post, he mentions that germophobes who are always saying that doorknobs are a great source of disease should have no fear if the knobs are solid brass as the alloy composition of brass makes it inherently germicidal.
and, moving right along and based on your professorial (sp?) expertise, what in hell is your real job?
LOL (literally)! My real job? Well, it constantly evolves, but I started out as an architectural field documentarian, drawing plans and elevations for historic buildings and houses by field-measuring them top to bottom first. Later I ventured into the world of architectural salvage but left when its dark underbelly was revealed to me. I then began to buy and renovate historic houses for resale (a slower but more conscientious approach than flipping). Currently I’m working in a contractor capacity in the renovation of an early twentieth-century farmhouse. Who knows what’s next? I knew that silver and copper have inherent germicidal qualities, but had never heard that about brass… I like my brass knobs even more now!
ps – the wood escutcheons for the wood knobs were extremely thin and flimsy and warped with changes in moisture and we’re frequently nailed to the door usually splitting them. in my architectural salvage, I have come across many pieces but a whole one is a rare find.
Wonderfully done! That was a fun tour. It is hard to imagine at this point that people were throwing them away. The Kelp pattern is indeed swoon worthy! Thanks for showing great examples of the earlier stuff – I never get to see it in real life in Chicago. (Thanks too for the comment about your day job – that was nice to learn. Doing onsite drawings seems like fun and interesting work, although I also imagine a lot of tedium)
The site work could get very dusty and dirty. The worst of it was dealing with wasps in empty houses in the summer. Detailed measurements and profiles were recorded on site, along with photos, but the actual production of drawings took place at the drafting table in air-conditioned or heated comfort!
I find it truly fascinating how overly decorative the Victorian period was. My 1850s house has very simple unadorned hardware, but a mere 25 years later and hardware became far more than just a functional or mechanical object, but objects of stunning beauty and complicated detail. I am certain this was driven in part by technology and the ability to mass produce fanciful hardware at a cost that average home owners could afford. I am particularly drawn to the Eastlake aesthetic for is geometrical design.
Glad you were able to feature examples from my house. I look forward to the day when I can fully restore all of our rim locks as well as our basement door hardware (which I deeply love).
It’s nice that the era’s appetite for excessive ornament happened to coincide with technological advancements! How ironic that we have even greater manufacturing capabilities today but seem to produce only ugly items which are designed with intentionally short lifespans! In contrast, the bronze hardware made in the late nineteenth century will last virtually forever.
I love the simplicity of rim locks such as yours. Once relieved of paint they ramp up the period character of a room; the knobs are good-looking, too. I like the way your basement door has collected hardware over the decades — it evokes the passage of time in a very tangible way. Thanks for sharing the photos!
not hard to imagine them tossing hardware when Tiffany lamps were thrown by the thousands in MCM Era as dowdy junk.
Dark underbelly of arch. salvage? we need to hear more of this from the pro (that would be you ). I collect and sell all I can but am appalled at the prices some dealers charge.
thanks for your always insightful and meticulous posts.
My posts are far from meticulous, but I’m glad you like them! I keep finding punctuation and spelling errors, etc. Regarding the dark underbelly, let’s just say that all enterprises can at times be less than honorable. I might elaborate more in a future post. And I’m not a pro at anything… just a guy with a colorful career history who is passionate about architecture and history (and had the opportunity to observe a few things along the way).
Did anyone notice that the cross house escutcheon is attached with what looks like two Phillips head drywall screws? Not judging, I’ve done the same. Shows how hard it can be to source period fasteners.
I was hoping you would talk about the internal workings of the 1870s locks. I have two outside doors that both have two keyholes on the outside. Only one goes through the lock to the inside (meaning you could open the door with the key from both the inside and outside). Why would locks be made with two keys? No I don’t have the keys. Yes I know they were skeleton keys. I just had one of them repaired so that the doorknob would at least open and close correctly. The repair person said it was incredibly complicated all the different locking things on the door. ( Which I know have nothing to do with the doorknob functioning. )One of these locks was Corbin. Patent 1869
Hardware of this period reached a level of quality and complexity which will never be seen again. Does the attached image look like your mortise lock? Many hardware companies produced front door hardware such as this (with two keyholes) in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The dead bolt would be operated by one key while a second “night key” would allow the smaller latch bolt (controlled by the door knob) to be locked and made immobile when one attempted to turn the knob at night. The latch bolt could be locked from the inside at night by the small “thumb stop” (a.k.a. “thumb turn”) seen at the upper left of the illustration. The second key could be used to unlock the latch bolt from the outside.
Similar versions of this concept were made into the early 20th century but were operated by pushbuttons on the face of the mortise lock rather than an interior thumb stop. I hope this helps!
I have two Victorian houses. It’s amazing to me how complex some vict.stuff can be. Sort of like modern electronics. Your email confirms what my locksmith thought
thanks for the reply!
Wonderful information!!! Thank you! I would like to know how to go about dating the hardware on my doors and in my home if possible. I do know that the home was built in 1900. The attic door has the iron rim lock you show and say was likely for a closet as it is smaller and more petite. Most of my other doors have a slightly larger rim lock with white porcelain knobs. They have some nice scroll work but sadly have many many layers of paint on them that I need to remove still. The door hinges have scroll work as well. Most of the doors are the vertical 4 panel style with a few hollow core thrown in that I will be replacing. On those replacements I want to use the correct or matching hardware but have yet to find any as most are the mortise style. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
While the hardware you describe was still available into the early twentieth century, bear in mind that many realtors use the year 1900 as a default date for older houses when they are unsure of the actual construction date. Unless you know for sure your house was built in 1900 it’s possible that it may be slightly older.
Its fun to research old hardware catalogs which can be found on archive.org for free or purchased from rare books stores and sites like ebay.
Here is an 1897 Russell and Irwin catalog found on Internet Archive. Try a variety of search terms (including “hardware catlog”) to find such publications. Look at catalogs from various decades and scroll through their pages until you find something similar to your hardware. Happy researching!
I have two Victorian houses .generally speaking the rim locks are earlier. Mortise locks sometimes have patent dates on them. Of course you have to remove them to see this.duh.The general rule for me is the patent date will be about 5 years before the house was built. I live in the Midwest.
This is a fabulous article – thank you so much for the wealth of information! We recently purchased an 1880s (?) Victorian that has wooden door knobs, escutcheons, and rosettes – many of which are intact! Happy to share pictures if you’re interested!
your column speaks to the architectural effete as well as to the common clay of which, I guess, I am one. astragal bull nose indeed.
speaking of meaningless trivia, I also subscribe to a blog called “the computer geek ” who has , in addition to the latest computorial effluvia, a daily fact. so related to your post, he mentions that germophobes who are always saying that doorknobs are a great source of disease should have no fear if the knobs are solid brass as the alloy composition of brass makes it inherently germicidal.
and, moving right along and based on your professorial (sp?) expertise, what in hell is your real job?
LOL (literally)! My real job? Well, it constantly evolves, but I started out as an architectural field documentarian, drawing plans and elevations for historic buildings and houses by field-measuring them top to bottom first. Later I ventured into the world of architectural salvage but left when its dark underbelly was revealed to me. I then began to buy and renovate historic houses for resale (a slower but more conscientious approach than flipping). Currently I’m working in a contractor capacity in the renovation of an early twentieth-century farmhouse. Who knows what’s next? I knew that silver and copper have inherent germicidal qualities, but had never heard that about brass… I like my brass knobs even more now!
ps – the wood escutcheons for the wood knobs were extremely thin and flimsy and warped with changes in moisture and we’re frequently nailed to the door usually splitting them. in my architectural salvage, I have come across many pieces but a whole one is a rare find.
Wonderfully done! That was a fun tour. It is hard to imagine at this point that people were throwing them away. The Kelp pattern is indeed swoon worthy! Thanks for showing great examples of the earlier stuff – I never get to see it in real life in Chicago. (Thanks too for the comment about your day job – that was nice to learn. Doing onsite drawings seems like fun and interesting work, although I also imagine a lot of tedium)
The site work could get very dusty and dirty. The worst of it was dealing with wasps in empty houses in the summer. Detailed measurements and profiles were recorded on site, along with photos, but the actual production of drawings took place at the drafting table in air-conditioned or heated comfort!
Yes, the drafting room was probably much more comfortable!
I find it truly fascinating how overly decorative the Victorian period was. My 1850s house has very simple unadorned hardware, but a mere 25 years later and hardware became far more than just a functional or mechanical object, but objects of stunning beauty and complicated detail. I am certain this was driven in part by technology and the ability to mass produce fanciful hardware at a cost that average home owners could afford. I am particularly drawn to the Eastlake aesthetic for is geometrical design.
Glad you were able to feature examples from my house. I look forward to the day when I can fully restore all of our rim locks as well as our basement door hardware (which I deeply love).
It’s nice that the era’s appetite for excessive ornament happened to coincide with technological advancements! How ironic that we have even greater manufacturing capabilities today but seem to produce only ugly items which are designed with intentionally short lifespans! In contrast, the bronze hardware made in the late nineteenth century will last virtually forever.
I love the simplicity of rim locks such as yours. Once relieved of paint they ramp up the period character of a room; the knobs are good-looking, too. I like the way your basement door has collected hardware over the decades — it evokes the passage of time in a very tangible way. Thanks for sharing the photos!
not hard to imagine them tossing hardware when Tiffany lamps were thrown by the thousands in MCM Era as dowdy junk.
Dark underbelly of arch. salvage? we need to hear more of this from the pro (that would be you ). I collect and sell all I can but am appalled at the prices some dealers charge.
thanks for your always insightful and meticulous posts.
My posts are far from meticulous, but I’m glad you like them! I keep finding punctuation and spelling errors, etc. Regarding the dark underbelly, let’s just say that all enterprises can at times be less than honorable. I might elaborate more in a future post. And I’m not a pro at anything… just a guy with a colorful career history who is passionate about architecture and history (and had the opportunity to observe a few things along the way).
I collect Branford lock works I have a display that will knock ur socks off if u wear them 15 displays of so much stuff
Did anyone notice that the cross house escutcheon is attached with what looks like two Phillips head drywall screws? Not judging, I’ve done the same. Shows how hard it can be to source period fasteners.
I was hoping you would talk about the internal workings of the 1870s locks. I have two outside doors that both have two keyholes on the outside. Only one goes through the lock to the inside (meaning you could open the door with the key from both the inside and outside). Why would locks be made with two keys? No I don’t have the keys. Yes I know they were skeleton keys. I just had one of them repaired so that the doorknob would at least open and close correctly. The repair person said it was incredibly complicated all the different locking things on the door. ( Which I know have nothing to do with the doorknob functioning. )One of these locks was Corbin. Patent 1869
Hardware of this period reached a level of quality and complexity which will never be seen again. Does the attached image look like your mortise lock? Many hardware companies produced front door hardware such as this (with two keyholes) in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The dead bolt would be operated by one key while a second “night key” would allow the smaller latch bolt (controlled by the door knob) to be locked and made immobile when one attempted to turn the knob at night. The latch bolt could be locked from the inside at night by the small “thumb stop” (a.k.a. “thumb turn”) seen at the upper left of the illustration. The second key could be used to unlock the latch bolt from the outside.
Similar versions of this concept were made into the early 20th century but were operated by pushbuttons on the face of the mortise lock rather than an interior thumb stop. I hope this helps!
I have two Victorian houses. It’s amazing to me how complex some vict.stuff can be. Sort of like modern electronics. Your email confirms what my locksmith thought
thanks for the reply!
Wonderful information!!! Thank you! I would like to know how to go about dating the hardware on my doors and in my home if possible. I do know that the home was built in 1900. The attic door has the iron rim lock you show and say was likely for a closet as it is smaller and more petite. Most of my other doors have a slightly larger rim lock with white porcelain knobs. They have some nice scroll work but sadly have many many layers of paint on them that I need to remove still. The door hinges have scroll work as well. Most of the doors are the vertical 4 panel style with a few hollow core thrown in that I will be replacing. On those replacements I want to use the correct or matching hardware but have yet to find any as most are the mortise style. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
While the hardware you describe was still available into the early twentieth century, bear in mind that many realtors use the year 1900 as a default date for older houses when they are unsure of the actual construction date. Unless you know for sure your house was built in 1900 it’s possible that it may be slightly older.
Its fun to research old hardware catalogs which can be found on archive.org for free or purchased from rare books stores and sites like ebay.
Here is an 1897 Russell and Irwin catalog found on Internet Archive. Try a variety of search terms (including “hardware catlog”) to find such publications. Look at catalogs from various decades and scroll through their pages until you find something similar to your hardware. Happy researching!
Try Antiquedoorknobs.us for images of door knobs they also have a section on facebook where you can ask questions.
Great link; thank you for sharing it!
if someone needs help id stuff I might be able to help I am a collector of Branford Lock works and I grew up in that town
I have two Victorian houses .generally speaking the rim locks are earlier. Mortise locks sometimes have patent dates on them. Of course you have to remove them to see this.duh.The general rule for me is the patent date will be about 5 years before the house was built. I live in the Midwest.
This is a fabulous article – thank you so much for the wealth of information! We recently purchased an 1880s (?) Victorian that has wooden door knobs, escutcheons, and rosettes – many of which are intact! Happy to share pictures if you’re interested!