The James Gibbons foundry is a very famous foundry in the UK, and it is really fascinating to read about the people and processes on the frontline of creating some of the architectural classics in our collection (albeit the newer pieces). We often look at how things are used, what you can do with them in your own home, and the weird and wonderful ways people reinvent old concepts – but it has been rare that we’ve looked at how things were actually made, and how these pieces began their life. The James Gibbons products will be our bread and butter in a hundred years time, but are quite classic...

At Architectural Classics, we are all about the details. After all, you could fudge through with plain door handles from any old shop in your home …but, fair enough, you don’t want to! We don’t either. These knob notes are all about the details and subtleties as well. They are modeled on the Victorian era, so the colours, the style and the clothing that the characters are all wearing is from the mid-1800s or so. They are a great way to fit your accessories in with any ‘style’ home from the 1700s to late 1800s though. One of the subtleties you’ll find in these knob notes though, is...

Although the internet has expanded our worlds by a billion times what they once were, it does come with its own set of positives and negatives. Buying things off the internet always has that element of risk, danger and surprise … definitely not the same as the nice, comfortingly safe route of looking at something, examining it, testing it and then handing money over a counter for it. Well, we’d like to take as much of the uncertainty out of buying things from Architectural Classics as possible – sorry thrill-seekers and adrenalin junkies! We have recently added a feature to a selection of...

Okay… sorry about the title! But for every groan I think there’s a tiny smile inside somewhere! Seriously, if you are renovating your house, or trying to improve the value a bit before you sell it, door knobs are one of the easiest, most personal and cheapest ways to add value to you home. Greg Bettenhausen, a hardware man in the States, calls door hardware “the jewelry of the home” … and who wouldn’t want to dress their home up a bit?! If you are happy to hunt around, checking out all the different priced, gorgeous knobs available, you can pick up some absolute bargains when it comes...

Ah, the determination and the capacity for rage of some people who believe that the worst sin someone can commit is making them get off the couch because they think they are worthwhile talking to… Do you think some people just constantly need something to be angry about? Perhaps their calling in life is sarcasm, and there just isn’t yet a career to suit them? It can’t be that he doesn’t want his door knocker worn out, because it is only a picture! BEFORE YOU KNOCK: …first pause a moment & ask yourself a few simple questions: First, Please Consider These IMPORTANT Preliminary...

Wow – such an awesome door knocker that if you had the chance to put it on your door, you probably wouldn’t even mind that it is a bit chipped. This is what cast bronze can look like as it ages, when it is left un-lacquered – you get some gorgeous contrasts between the protruding metal, which is polished by time and people’s hands, and the receding metal, which collects a layer of time and darkens. Archaeologists believe that this door knocker was made in southern Italy around 1100. Given that there is a lettered inscription in Arabic around the edge, it is interesting to imagine who might...

My favourite tale of door knocking is The Raven, by Edgar Allen Poe. It was written in 1845, when door knockers had definitely become commonplace – but they just don’t convey the same mystery, and wouldn’t allow the narrator the excuse that his visitor “so gently … came tapping”! What a beautiful study in suspense and uncertainty, and the rhythm of the poem supports the racing of his mind and his feelings of terror. So, grab a door knocker so that should you hear a faint tapping, you know it is no innocent visitor … here are the first four verses of The Raven. Once upon a...

Ha ha! I’m not even going to try to rewrite this in my own words. I can easily imagine a very dry, bespectacled British teacher declaiming about this subject to his class of somewhat frightened and very confused boarding school kids… ! I can also imagine Monty Python acting it out, though… It came from : h2g2, by Wargamer (The Wanderer), and edited by Frankie Roberto. Thanks for that, guys. Seriously. We don’t know what we would have done without it. The internet is much simpler to operate than any door. Ha ha!!! Operating Doors The Basic Door is usually a little over six foot tall,...

Every now and then we come across something really special at Architectural Classics. We have been lucky enough to come across this gorgeous stylised bronze knocker, dated from around the 16th century and made with many traditional elements. A woman’s head holds up the huge and heavy knocking arm, which consists of two putti, displaying a shield with fleur de lys. The shape of the entire knocker resembles the classical fleur de lys. The knocker has not been cleaned up, touched up, polished or restored with us, so you can see all of its antique charm and chronicles. There is no chance of the...