50 
House & Garden 
THE DECORATED DOOR in the MODERN HOUSE 
A Phase of Renaissance Furnishing that Justifies Revival When Properly Used 
COSTEN FITZ-GIBBON 
i ■' .'y*’ 
I T is a sound and universally 
accepted principle in both 
architectural and decorative 
practice, whenever ornamenta¬ 
tion is to be employed, to orna¬ 
ment structural lines and struc¬ 
tural features. To them the 
emphasis of adornment natur¬ 
ally belongs and stress applied 
in this way has logical signifi¬ 
cance. 
Doors as Features 
The door is an important 
structural feature and, as such, 
is a thoroughly legitimate ob¬ 
ject for decoration. By regard¬ 
ing it, as we too often do, merely 
as a necessary piece of joinery 
or cabinet work, we miss a 
fruitful opportunity of creat¬ 
ing interest. The door and the 
doorway exist for and because 
of each other. If we bestow 
great pains on adorning and 
dignifying the doorway, it is 
logical sometimes to do the 
same for the door. 
Our own American archi¬ 
tectural heritage, whether of 
truly Colonial or of Georgian 
character, supplied little prece¬ 
dent for door decoration be¬ 
yond the comparatively meagre 
decorative interest to be ob¬ 
tained through divers forms of 
paneling and battening and the 
affixing of hardware that might 
possess a certain degree of dec- 
of doors is a significant item in 
the list. But, notwithstanding 
this awakening and the broader 
outlook it has induced, the sur¬ 
face of the field of precedent 
has only been scratched. There 
is abundant depth of soil to dig 
in. We still need to have our 
decorative consciousness prod¬ 
ded and stimulated and our 
horizon widened before we can 
reach a full appreciation of all 
that awaits us, ready for either 
reproduction or adaptation. 
Methods of Decoration 
The status of door decora¬ 
tion established as a feasible 
and sane thing, it now remains 
to offer a few practical sugges¬ 
tions anent the “how”, “when”, 
and “where”. 
The possible means, and the 
most readily available, are 
painted or inlaid embellish¬ 
ment; carved, turned or mod¬ 
elled ornament, which includes 
divers sorts of paneling de¬ 
vices; and, finally, the applica¬ 
tion of metal mounts or stud¬ 
ding. 
In not a few cases two or 
even all three of these processes 
were employed in combination. 
The styles of domestic archi¬ 
tecture with which the several 
methods of door adornment 
have natural affinities, con¬ 
firmed by historic usage, are 
Late 15 th or early 16 th Century Spanish doors 
with linen-fold panels and armorial hearings in 
relief. They were originally polychrome and 
gilt. Courtesy of C. M. Traver Co. 
orative amenity. Nor was there anything in 
the grotesque architectural practice of nearly 
the whole of the 19th Century to suggest the 
legitimate decorative treatment of doors. 
Whatever limited embellishment of that sort 
was attempted was stupid and hideous. 
But we have waked up since then in matters 
of architecture and interior decoration. There 
has been steady progress ever since the latter 
years of the 19th Centuiy. A more cosmo¬ 
politan outlook has done much to open the 
public eye to manifold possibilities that few 
had previously dreamed of. The adornment 
Late 1 6th Century 
Spanish doors, paneled, 
carved and embellished 
with gold and color. 
Courtesy of Traver 
Louis Seize polychrome 
and gilt doors. Stiles 
and rails light green, 
mouldings gilt. Court¬ 
esy, Cooper Union 
