Archways in plaster walls – without a traditional wood casing surrounding them – became highly fashionable in the 1920’s and remained popular with builders into the 1950’s. They are most likely to be found in Tudor Revivals and Spanish Eclectic houses of the period, but can be found in all popular styles built during those years.
Caseless arched openings have made a comeback in recent years and are often seen in new construction, now crafted from sheetrock and flexible vinyl corner bead rather than plaster and lath with metal corners. I just had the opportunity to document an arched opening from the 1950’s which was an alteration in the project house. A new kitchen design requires its removal. There was originally a hinged door in this location; the small space beyond was likely a pantry.
Here are two examples of arched openings, followed by a closer look at what one in the project house looked like beneath the plaster:
A flattened Gothic arch frames the staircase in a 1920’s Tudor Revival. Image source: zillow.com
An eliptical arched opening – complete with original iron gates – connects the living and dining rooms in a 1930’s Spanish Eclectic house featuring textured plaster typical of the style and period. Image source: zillow.com
A smaller eliptical arch replaced the original doorway in a former pantry. It’s coming out to make the kitchen bigger and more efficient.
With the plaster removed, the original wood lath is exposed – along with two types of metal corner bead. At the sides, a diamond mesh corner bead frames the sides of the opening. At the top, four manufactured sections create a symmetrical arch.
Detail of metal corners.
Not all arches are formed in this exact manner, but many are formed in similar ways. Today, various forms of blocking are available to quickly create an arch. After the sheetrock is installed, flexible corner bead is used to finish and protect the corners which will then be hidden by joint compound. In the photo below, segmental arches were finished with flexible bullnose corner bead to create a rounded, rather than square, corner:
Typical of many arches found in new construction, the corners seen in this recently-built McMansion are rounded rather than square as was favored in the past. Image source: zillow.com
Those forms are really interesting. Could you just buy them at the local hardware store, or would you have to mail order them? Interesting – the pre-fabbedness of it. Were there armitures for the plaster crown moldings and other decorative pieces? I have not really thought of that before. Thanks for showing us behind the curtain!
Glad you like this! You can get arch forms at some of the bigger places, or find them online. Here’s a link to one commonly available:
Prefabricated Framing Arch Kit
Plaster crown moldings were run by hand prior to the late nineteenth century… afterwards manufactured components were available from catalogs and the plasterers would “glue” the pieces to the ceiling (or wherever) with wet plaster. The variety of moldings and other ornament available was simply mind-boggling. Check out this 1909 catalog from the Architectural Decorating Company of Chicago (courtesy of archive.org) – one of the biggies in the plaster ornament field:
Architectural Decorating Company
That is so fun! Hard to imagine ordering plaster stuff by catalog back then! That link is great. Mind boggling. The HD arch kit – pretty cool for $25. Our new place in a 1920’s high rise has plaster moldings and a non-functional fireplace, so I am having to learn new skills. At some point someone hacked off the top bit of the mantle, some acanthus leaves and trim. I was at a loss to figure out how to replace it. Then, a couple weekends ago, someone yanked one out of their unit (which I cannot imagine doing). But, the piece I needed was nicely placed by the dumpster. Hooray! It is in about 98% great condition. One acanthus leaf is knocked off. Now I need to figure out how to attach it and glue the pieces back together. . . Another project.
My sister has a modest house built in the late 40s in Madison, Wisconsin with a a small archway with 3 curves. It looks almost Moorish and I can’t find any examples online. Do you think it’s a one-off or can I research it somewhere? Please and thanks!
Sounds interesting but it would be impossible to say one way or the other without seeing it. If the house was built by a contractor who built other houses in the neighborhood you might find similar arches in them. If it’s not a local theme then it might be either an alteration or an original, but customized, feature.
Thanks for replying so quickly and that all makes sense.
Arched doorways were very common when I grew up in California, especially with the Spanish/Mediterranean styles. I’ve had a couple of apartments over the years (built in the 20’s) with really lovely arches between the living room and kitchen or from entry hall to main room.
While an archway would look downright awkward in my 1850s rowhouse, there are some very quirky ones here in Philly. With a city of hundreds of thousands of pre-1900 homes, most of them have been rehabbed multiple times over the past 120+ years. From the 20s to the 50s, it was a common to “modernize” modest Philly rowhouses by opening up the wall which divided living room from dining room (early open concept) and put very creatively shaped archways in. Some out of wood, others out of plaster. Often there would be a second matching arch on a smaller scale from the dining to the kitchen.
Here are just a few examples of the quirky Philly archways:
https://philly.curbed.com/2016/3/16/11245966/south-philly-rowhouse-for-sale-285k
https://philly.curbed.com/2018/2/16/17019632/art-museum-home-for-sale
https://philly.curbed.com/2017/11/15/16654784/south-philly-dickinson-narrows-home-for-sale
Now many of those archways have been just removed, filled in with sheetrock and can lights.
Wow – those really are quirky! I do love a good regional twist; thanks for sharing these from Philly! I’m sad that these are disappearing, but not surprised.
Very interesting, thanks for sharing some “behind the plaster” scenes!
Our current 1926 Italian Renaissance Revival home has a number of plaster archways in the elliptical form. I hope to never have reason to find how they’re built, but wouldn’t be surprised to see some sort of prefab metal as in your example.
Good luck on the kitchen reno! I look forward to seeing more!
Thanks – good luck will be very helpful in this renovation! Unfortunately, I did not design the new kitchen… the owners had a Big Box store’s “kitchen designer” come up with the plan. It will be very HGTV in flavor, not the sort of design that I would have come up with for this particular house. But, it’s not my house, and I’m grateful that the house will not be torn down and replaced with a new one (an early option). It will be a significant upgrade from what had existed and serve the new owners well. My faithful blog readers will have many opportunities to see more of the project in the coming months!