i6 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
January, 1915 
Though crude, the Colonial hardware was service¬ 
able. (a) A Pennsylvania doorknocker; (b) a 
Dutch door latch with brass handle; (c) a Dutch 
thumb latch; (d) a Pennsylvania Dutch doorlatch 
The finer i 
wrought iron ! 
hardware, such \J\J 
as keyplates, 
locks, keys, 
knockers, and ■ fpK/ 
decorative % 
hinges may also % 
be given a pleas- B 
ing and durable B 
bright finish 
which can be 
kept in perfect- | -yjS 
ly good condi¬ 
tion with a very- 
little attention once in every three 
or four months. This applies to 
both exterior and interior hard¬ 
ware, for the metal is given a pre¬ 
servative treatment before leaving 
the shop of the craftsman, which 
ensures its brightness with a mini¬ 
mum of care. The only thing 
necessary is to apply a little of the 
mixture, which the craftsman can 
supply, at the intervals mentioned. 
In this way the wrought iron sur¬ 
face can be maintained with the lustre and gleam of bur¬ 
nished steel or old silver. 
Glass knobs must be reckoned in the catalogue of avail¬ 
able domestic hardware and find their appropriate place on 
doors and on various kinds of built-in furniture. They 
must be mounted in metal or fastened in place bv pins 01 - 
bars running through their center. It is preferable to have 
these metal mounts of nickel or some material that will not 
require frequent polishing, otherwise the polishing com¬ 
pound is apt to get in the crevices of the pressed or cut 
glass and necessitate troublesome washing. 
The choice of 
domestic hard¬ 
ware should be 
based on two 
prime considera- 
t i o n s — first, 
practical utility, 
and s e c o n d, 
beauty and fit¬ 
ness of design 
for the place 
and surround¬ 
ings in which it 
is to be used. 
Other things be- 
ing equal, it Sf . ‘Xtt|S§fi99BB. • ' fiflMIRfli ' 
stands to reason Ij lB B So$j§ CdfiX - fm 
that the prefer- wW* iraa? ^ 
ence ought to be '- IMEv t Itesgp Sggfff 1K3§ ; jBBm m&m 
given the hard- mBB H. --HUB BHB 
ware that com- |4p|J V iugH Hfl, 
bines both de- BB gfa pi | MB 
sirable qualities |||||g IraK Ifitej l i Jfggj* 
rather than to ™ . 
that which is 
^ ^ ^ For certain types of houses, the sturdy lines and simplicity of early Dutch Colonial farmhouse hardware 
lian. idle great [ s unexcelled, as witness these examples of inside door hinges 
trouble is that 
most people do 
not pay enough 
heed to the se¬ 
lection of hard¬ 
ware. They are 
too apt to ignore 
it unless some 
individual piece 
is out of order 
and causes them 
inconvenience. 
It is one of the 
little niceties, 
one of the small 
refinements of 
architectural fit- 
. tings, that the 
™™ average mind, 
with its custom¬ 
ary carelessness of minute detail and in¬ 
difference to the valuable habit of close 
observation, passes by without concern. 
A piece of hardware should perform 
perfectly the function for which it is de¬ 
signed. A latch that does not latch 
tight; a lock that refuses to work with¬ 
out humoring, or a hinge that wobbles and lets a door sag, 
can only be condemned as bad. In the second place, the 
purpose of hardware should be obvious, and it should be of 
simple construction and easy to use. It seems as though 
this ought almost to go without saying, but the writer has 
occasionally encountered various devices that did not meet 
these requirements, some of baffling appearance until their 
method of working was explained, and others that were 
not easy to manipulate. Closely akin to this last-mentioned 
essential in good hardware is the reasonable demand that 
it be comfortable to handle. Knobs, handles, latches, bolts, 
a n d all other 
pieces of hard¬ 
ware with which 
the hand must 
come in contact, 
should be so 
placed and of 
such dimensions 
that they are 
convenient and 
agreeable to use. 
Some knobs and 
door pulls, 
though satisfac¬ 
tory in appear¬ 
ance, are of 
shapes and di¬ 
mensions that 
make them un¬ 
pleasant to the 
hand, and they 
are now and 
then so set that 
they throw the 
hand or arm in¬ 
to an unnatural 
position. A 
16 
