Our house originally had 2-panel doors throughout. However, there are only 5 of them left. One separates our bedroom from the bathroom. The doorway was made sometime after the house was built because the molding is different and projects into both rooms. Original molding is flush with the plaster walls and closed doors were flush with one side of the molding.
The door tells it's own story. Now 34 inches wide, it was originally 36 inches wide and occupied the doorway between our dining room and what we call the cottage living room but was the original kitchen to the house. I know this because one side of the door was painted green and the other side was given a coat of shellac. Each vertical edge had 1" trimmed off exposing the tenon joints and exposing raw wood that was painted over (making stripping harder). This picture verifies the story. The mortise lock was moved to adjust for the cut sides.
This was not a simple task because this is the lock and each section has it's own mortise! Ever seen one like this?
2 comments:
No I haven't seen one like that. Very cool looking. So, is that original to your house....which would be what year exactly?
This was the height of lock technology in 1845. I suspect the house was started sometime after 1840 and completed by the time 39 year old Samuel wed his 15 year old bride in 1845!
We have a closet door that has just the top part installed and no keyed lock. These must have been sold as single and double (lockable) sets. Some of the parts are hand made.
I will have to make a key for it!
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