We have completed a variety of door and window replications and restorations over the years. In many cases, these types of projects are particularly interesting and fulfilling because we feel that we are playing a part in continuing the story of a historical building.
The Remit
Our client, CALA Homes (West) required replacement doors for the David Stow building at Jordanhill College. The new David Stow Cala site is comprised of 64 apartments, including a mix of one, two and three bed apartments. As the red sandstone David Stow is a Grade B listed building, the doors had to be built in the old Victorian style just as they were first built when the college opened as a teacher training college in 1917.
We were tasked to restore the two doors either side and a door to replicate the others in the middle. This project required enhanced attention to detail, with a need to emulate key period features. The doors were more than a hundred-year-old and therefore special care had to be given to the old Victorian style and rail door set up with its exceptional period mouldings and fielded panel detail.
In the central photo below, you will see the traditional Bommer patent hinge that was attached to the original door/frame. If you look closely enough, you can see a selection of dates etched into the hinge that came off the door we removed. A great piece of history!
The Process
After the removal of the existing doors, it was off to visit the paint shop at our factory. It was here though our draughtsman detailed from the existing doors for us to replicate the new doors we were creating.
Once the design details were completed, our factory machined and assembled two new doors to replicate the restored doors as tasked.
In the spray shop, where we used paint stripper on the left- and right-hand doors – they had lost their lustre after all the decades of students passing through them. We patched and infilled any missing sections with matching timber to repair the bumps and bruises of the last one hundred years. The timber was then sanded back, cleaned down and then stained and tinted, before an exterior topcoat was applied.
The final piece of the puzzle was the brass ironmongery. To tie in with the new manufactured ironmongery, the old door ironmongery received a little tlc with some brasso!
What do you think of the finished result?
