14. AMERICAN HOMES AND 
GARDENS January, 1912 
Types of keyplates 
The House Hardware 
By Rossiter M. Lenbach 
HERE are various things which the person 
intending to build for the first time is apt 
to overlook in planning for the house. One 
of the most important of these is the matter 
of hardware; that is 
to say, of the details 
that should enter into consideration 
concerning the provision to be made 
for the proper sort of doorknobs, 
keyplates, keys, doorguards, hinges, 
window fastenings, handles, latches— 
everything, in fact, that can come under the name 
of house hardware, from cellar to attic-room. One 
should hardly leave the selection of hardware for 
the house to the contractor. In fact, this is an item 
that should be embodied in a separate clause, after 
the one for whom the house is to be built has paid 
a visit to the showrooms of the dealer or manu- 
facturer, in company with the contractor’s repre- 
sentative, and has given careful thought to his 
choice of the various utilitarian objects of the sort, 
which, having been selected, should be itemized 
and then embodied in the contract. Of course, in 
the larger houses the 
architect will prob- 
ably arrange this 
matter and make a 
careful selection to 
accord with the ar- 
chitectural styles. 
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Many excellent 
Artistic keyplates for the door 
Wedgewood knob 
Again, if the house be put in the hands of a professional 
decorator, he should be consulted about this matter. However, 
in the house for the person of moderate means the owner 
cannot do better than to exercise especial care in the matter 
of everything that pertains to the 
house hardware. Just as the crafts- 
, builders of early times, who wrought 
@ with loving care everything that had 
Y to do with the detail of the house, so 
are our best manufacturers of to-day 
devoting attention to producing well- 
made designs in house hardware of high artistic 
merit. Some of these products are reproductions 
of historic examples, and others are commendable 
adaptations or entirely original modern designs. 
Such a set of brass fittings as that of which the 
doorknob and key are shown on this page, adapta- 
tions of designs from Benares, India, is especially 
suited for bungalow fitting, just as the dainty Co- 
lonial design shown at the bottom of the page would 
be in excellent taste for a boudoir, or the Wedge- 
wood doorknob above it for a room fitted in the 
Chinese taste. It is to be hoped that in planning 
the details of house 
furnishing the sub- 
ject of proper hard- 
ware for the house 
will come to receive 
the complete atten- 
tion it should have. 
esigns in doorknobs, keys, keyplates, handles and various other pieces of house hardware are now to be had in all deconative styles 
