Hardware with history - antique hardware

Sunset, May, 1995 by Daniel Gregory

Where to find vintage and reproduction fittings to enhance an old - or new - look

Westerners are rediscovering period hardware, not just for restoring or renovating old houses, but also for jazzing up ordinary kitchen cabinets and chests of drawers. So where do you find Victorian brass hinges, hammered copper Arts and Crafts drawer pulls, or Depression glass knobs?

Flea markets and architectural salvage companies are still a good bet for the real thing (to find a salvage company, look in the yellow pages under Building Materials - Architectural, Antique & Used). National catalogs offer a variety of reproductions. Another resource is The Old-House Journal Restoration Directory (Dovetail Publishers), a 258-page listing of manufacturers. Updated yearly, it costs $12.95 for subscribers, $16.95 for nonsubscribers; to order, call (508) 281-8803. Specialty hardware stores are also an increasingly important source. The following are some of the largest.

Liz's Antique Hardware. This mother lode of historic hardware in Los Angeles contains more than 350,000 pieces dating from the 1850s through the 1950s. Homeowner Eric Alan came here to find handles and drawer pulls for his renovated kitchen. "We were there on a Sunday," says Eric, "and went through boxes and cans full of different pulls. I felt the ghosts of all the people who had touched this hardware. You get dusty and dirty, but it was a really fun thing to do." Liz's Antique Hardware is at 453 S. La Brea Ave., Los Angeles, 90036; call (213) 939-4403,

Crown City Hardware Co. The displays inside this Pasadena store are just the tip of a vintage-hardware iceberg. The store publishes a hefty 372-page mail-order catalog, The Crown City Collection, devoted entirely to period hardware. There are 30 pages on bronze and brass drawer and bin pulls alone. A glossary of terms is also included. It costs $6.50 sent by bulk mail delivery, $9.50 for quicker UPS service. Craftsman-style designs are included in separate brochures; to order these brochures send a self-addressed, stamped, business envelope (two 32-cent stamps). Crown City Hardware Co. is at 1047 N. Allen Ave., Pasadena 91104; call (818) 794-1188.

Other specialists in vintage or period hardware include Old and Elegant Distributing, 10203 Main Street Lane, Bellevue, Wash. 98004, (206) 455-4660, with more than 1,000 specialty items in stock; Hundley Hardware, 617 Bryant St., San Francisco, 94107, (415) 777-5050, with an inventory of about 1,500 period pieces; and Rejuvenation, 1100 S. E. Grand Ave., Portland 97214, (503) 2311900, once a vintage lighting manufacturer, now a purveyor of both reproduction and salvage hardware.