Dropping in on vintage hardware stores - hardware stores specializing in restoration fixtures

Sunset, Feb, 1995 by Bill Crosby

Maybe the northern half of Sunset's territory has a preponderance of old houses. Maybe the harsh weather or high precipitation rates make folks here more aware of their interior spaces. Maybe that's why all the recommendations we received for hardware stores specializing in restoration fixtures are north of the 40th parallel.

We have no idea why our mail skewed the way it did, because we know there are terrific places to poke around for vintage hinges, drawer pulls, and the like in our southern climes. Nevertheless, here's the word on your favorite places to find old, antique, or reproduction fittings for your house. Portland, consider yourself blessed.

It's either up U.S. Highway 395 or down the Columbia River for Kennewick, Washington, reader Joyce Scharold. Heading up U.S. 395 takes her to Brown Building Materials in Spokane (N. 111 Erie Street, 509/535-0112). The yard tucks under State Highway 290 east of downtown. Everything and anything imaginable - and resellable - salvaged from local demolitions is spread out over 10-plus acres. Store founder Dick Brown says, "There's nothing we haven't carried at one time or another, even tombstones, but we're out of them now." Look for vintage items dating from 1900; new building supplies are also stocked.

When Scharold changes direction and heads west along the Columbia, it's to Hippo Hardware & Trading Co. in Portland (1040 E. Burnside Street, 503/231-1444), also a favorite of reader Barbara Duncan. Duncan warns visitors to Hippo to "wear your grubbies and be ready to dig - it's for the serious home improver. In the basement you can find doors, complete stained-glass window sets, mantelpieces, and moldings - all original and salvaged (and dirty!). The ground level is wonderful hardware, the second level is bathroom fixtures (even bathtubs), and the top floor is lighting fixtures. You can spend a lot of time just looking at what is there, from fancy and Victorian to funky and '70s." Employees are happy to explain the half-gentleman you see in the photo above; it's a long story.

Hippo is but half of Duncan's Portland recommendation; the other half, Rejuvenation Inc. (1100 S.E. Grand Avenue, 503/238-1900), is "for the more faint of heart (or those with fatter wallets)." Duncan says, "It's also a trip for your senses but in a different way. It has Stickley furniture, reproduction Tiffany lamps, and enough Arts and Crafts-style details to make anyone drool." Her enthusiasm for Rejuvenation is shared by fellow Portland readers Orville and Mary Beal, who vouch for its completeness: "You can get anything you need there for restoring antique furniture and older homes," wrote Mary Beal.

Down in Eureka, California, Sue Smith found what she wanted at Restoration Hardware (417 Second Street, 707/443-3152), started by a man who collected a lot of antique hardware trying to replicate fittings in his Victorian home. Though some locals may think of it as their best-kept secret, Restoration Hardware has practically become a tourist destination. "We get tours off the cruise ships coming in here," says manager Tim Stanley.

In the hardware genre, Restoration Hardware is more of a boutique than a salvage yard. Most of the stock is reproduction, and rather than having scads of choices for any given item, it tends to have only several carefully chosen samples. Much of the store's business is in accessories that could fit into a house of any age. Lower Californians can get a feel for this store; branches are in Berkeley, Danville, Corte Madera, and Newport Beach.