For those of us not growing up in a country where nickel could buy you lollies at the milkbar on a Saturday, you may not have been introduced to this metal until now! Nickel is a very popular choice for traditional door hardware … but why? And wherefore? And how come?

Nickel is chemically close to iron, and is produced in the universe by much the same forces. Along with iron, it is formed by much smaller and lower temperature stars than other metals (read: less heat and energy, on Earth!), and as such is very common in meteorites … and in the Earth’s crust, where anybody might pick it up and take it away.

While nickel is quite reactive – being easily damaged when it is in its pure form – the element is quite slow to react with air, so it doesn’t easily develop the patination that brass does, or bronze or iron do, in the forms of verdigris and rust respectively. Nickel is also capable of taking on a very high polish – this is the characteristic that really helped it rise to metal prominence. It is a prince among metals, at least, if not a king!

Nickel is actually magnetic – one of the few metals other than iron that can claim this. While the US nickel is actually 75% copper, so won’t stick to itself in your wallet, or wreck your credit card encoding (!), the Canadian nickel minted between 1922 and 1981 was nearly pure nickel. Not great for credit cards, or the occasional floppy disk that you might find in your wallet!

If you have nickel door hardware in your traditional home, then your knobs and knockers’ metallic cousins include things like Raney nickel, used in chemical reactions in laboratories; kupfernickel (the Devil’s nickel!), which is used to color glass green for beer and other funny coloured drinks; coins all over the world (the rich relatives); and of course, construction and magnets. I like the idea of the Devil’s nickel best… >:-D

Some unlucky individuals are actually allergic to nickel – it can cause mild contact dermatitis if you wear earrings made of nickel and you are sensitive to it. The good news is though, that if it merely on your doorknobs, you are unlikely to suffer any adverse affects from it. If you are concerned, you can easily lacquer your knobs with the appropriate commercial product, and you need worry (and itch!) no longer.

And that is the story of ‘Saint Nick’! Except of course, the many different stories told by the fascinating and individual knobs and knockers in the products section 



Photo credits: Nickel - plumose “crystals” by jeff-o-matic
Photo credits: Old school bottles by Jurek Durczak

For a gorgeous metal, brass has gotten a bad rap over the years. In Hush, Little Baby, if the diamond ring turns to brass, papa will have to buy a looking glass instead (as if that is better than a diamond on a brass ring!) . The word brassy is used to describe hair that is obviously not a natural blonde … and not in a complimentary way! And if you are bold and brassy, then you are cheap and just a little bit unsavoury.

But brass has been a staple of life for centuries – and we think that ‘unsavoury’ really just means ‘more interesting!’. The beautiful nearly-gold colour of the metal comes from its parent metals, copper and zinc. There is usually around 50-80% copper in brass, with the rest being zinc and occasionally another metal such as tin or even selenium. Apparently it is likely to have existed even before zinc was discovered, all on its lonesome – since prehistoric times.

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Poor old copper – it’s very name is a insult in some circles. Although admittedly not in the most refined and sophisticated circles! But no matter what circle, square, triangle or otherwise you move in, if your period style home favours copper furnishings and infrastructure, we’ve put together a handy reference guide for the metal – its history, personality type, care and uses.

Copper is uncommon among building metals, in that it is one of the few ‘pure’ metals used in building. Alloys are usually favoured over ‘pure’ metals (those made up of only one element), because why would you go with something natural when you can muck around a little bit, have a few fun explosions, and create something with properties more exactly suited to your purpose?! Seriously though, it is generally easier to make something to your exact specifications when you can add a little of this and a little of that. This is what gives it such a long history – before humans had the technology or tools to mix metals together, they could easily find copper lying about in the countryside, bang it a little bit and have something they could call a homeware or a tool. It’s total history of use by humans is known to be at least 10,000 years, and smelted copper has been found that has been dated at around 5,000 years old. The oldest known copper artifact was sadly an implement of hurt, death and destruction – a copper mace head.

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If door knobs had a god, Architectural Classics would be at church every Sunday… there is, however, the next best thing. Janus is the Roman god of doors and doorways, as well as beginnings and ends. He is easily recognisable, as he is always depicted with more than one face – usually two, looking in either direction. Earlier representations of Janus showed him with four faces … can we draw the conclusion then that revolving doors were in use much before swinging ones, do you think?

Janus was, in his time a very versatile and much worshipped god. Doors have a beautiful romance and symbolism, and ancient Romans recognised this also. So while it might seem a bit pointless to have a god of doors (when might you pray to him? When there are too many mice coming in from underneath the door? When your hinges are rusting?!), he is really the god of many things. He was worshipped at all sorts of times – marriages, births, deaths and other life transitions – because he was seen as a middle ground between two states of being, and his help could make the change easier. Harvest and planting times were another popular time to worship him. He was known as the happy medium – a convenient middle ground. However, you could also choose to see him as the god of uncomfortable buttocks, because he always sits on the fence … ! War time was another time Janus came into his own – he was not supposed to have been born a god, but was a mortal from Thessaly in Greece (there is hope for all of us yet!). His reign was a Golden Age, and during it he defended the Sabines from attack by Romulus by making a hot spring erupt. Thus doors to Janus’ temples were kept open during war time, so that he could come out to help.

One of Janus and Camese’s sons was named Fons … I bet Happy Days didn’t know that Harry Belafonte’s character was actually based on the son of a Roman God! I don’t know if that would make the Fonz cooler, or daggier…

Unfortunately for Janus, his two-facedness is often now interpreted as being a negative symbol, although Janus himself was meant to be an absolutely upstanding person and one of the most positive gods about. Greek gods often have a chequered sort of history, sometimes involving rapes, wars, divorces and adultery. Janus, however, could not be faulted! It is sort of a pity, then, that his skill of seeing things both ways has been a bit too literally interpreted as ‘two-facedness’. Hardly fair!

It’s alright though Janus, you’ll always have dedicated followers here!

Photo credits: Janus Pater by Yuri Firsanov

The Story Begins …

At Architectural Classics, we love history … obviously! The opportunity recently came up to piece together some historical puzzles, return some history to its rightful spot, and look at some gorgeous photos of ancient Welsh architecture in the process.

You can imagine the feeling in the office! We haven’t even needed coffee this week.

It is a twisted tale indeed, but here is the story of this imposing, strong and masculine chandelier. Starting at the start … St Donat’s castle in Wales was built at a time unknown (how romantic :-), but the parts of it still standing that were earliest built were owned by the de Hawey family in the twelfth century. Later, one of the de Hawey daughters, Joan, married Sir Peter Stradling. We hear that she always burnt poor old Pete’s toast, and had very strange nose-hair …and so ownership of the castle was seen as a fair exchange for the liability and inconvenience of being responsible for Joan (!). Or perhaps it was to do with the custom of wives’ property being passed to their husbands upon marriage, the reasoning is a bit blurry. Anyway! The Stradling family owned the castle for many centuries – until 1738 in fact, when Thomas Stradling died, and a John Tyrwhitt ended up buying the castle.

William Randolph Hearst’s Chandelier

It sounds all well and good to own a castle, but several owners found that it costs a bit more than you’d think … the castle fell into a state of disrepair, until the late 1920s, when William Randolph Hearst, owner of several successful magazine titles and newspapers in America, fell in love with it. Mr. Hearst seemed to have an absolute love affair with castles and things medieval, and fortunately for him, had the money to indulge such an expensive habit. Even worse than skiing, for a cost to enjoyment ratio in a hobby! (more…)