July, 1923 
SPANISH DOOR KNOCKERS 
73 
for MODERN STUCCO HOMES 
The Artistry of the Moor and the Spaniard 
Might Stimulate Modern Craftsmanship 
ALICE MANNING WILLIAMS 
Moorish ingiience is evi¬ 
dent in the design of this 
16th Century door ring 
knocker and escutcheon 
A door handle of the late 
16th Century, with Mude- 
jar tracery, a blending of 
the Moorish and Gothic 
These iron devices were 
used both for knockers 
and door rings, as shown 
on the door to the left 
The lizard design was a favorite 
among early Renaissance iron 
workers in Spain. This ex¬ 
ample dates from about 1600 
A Renaissance door knocker, so 
formed with rosettes as to give 
a flower like effect. The orna¬ 
mentation is typically Moorish 
0 \^TNG to the increasing popularity of 
the stucco house, especially in its 
Spanish adaptations, there has been con¬ 
siderable speculation as to the type of door 
knocker used. Unfortunately, the available 
knockers are not always adapted to the 
character of the door or to the house itself. 
The incongruity of the colonial brass 
knocker on a house of Spanish style has 
been repeated too often. 
A word about the Spanish door. The 
common type, which is Moorish in style, 
was built up of an elaborate intersecting 
wooden frame which is visible on the inside 
as a series of varying coffers and is 
covered on the exterior with 
stout vertical boarding. This 
gave great strength to the ordi¬ 
nary door, the wide planks 
being held together by iron 
bars or plating and ponderous 
bolts. Lacking the elaborate 
wood carving which charac¬ 
terized the heavy doors of 
Italy, the Spanish doors of¬ 
fered greater possibilities in 
the way of iron embellishment, 
Another example of Renais¬ 
sance design. These illustra¬ 
tions are shown by courtesy of 
the Hispanic Society of America 
especially in its locks, nail heads and knock¬ 
ers. The knockers on the average door 
were generally placed in pairs, one on each 
side slightly above the head. 
Their simplicity and beauty is worthy 
of emulation, and it was with this purpose 
in view that these samples here shown were 
selected. Each shows a certain fine indi¬ 
viduality and is not at all difficult to re¬ 
produce, although, of course, the modern 
article would lack the atmosphere and tra¬ 
dition that goes with the knockers of old. 
These were made of malleable iron, which 
was granulated in texture, but which be¬ 
came after repeated heatings and hammer¬ 
ings very tough and flexible. 
Easily wrought when hot, it 
could be hammered and bent 
when cold. 
In its primitive state the 
Spanish door knocker (called 
llamador by the Spaniards 
and alldabon by the Moors) 
was very sim.ple, consisting of 
a flat back plate to which was 
riveted either a ring or 
{Continued on page 80) 
