Cast Iron Decoration

This classic work documents the many uses and ingenious adaptations of wrought iron in architecture, with numerous examples from the fourteenth century through the twentieth centuries. Gerald Geerlings' extensive introduction details the properties of wrought iron; its textures; tools and terms of the trade; architectural applications, design, motifs, and ornamentation; economic considerations; finishing; and more. The author illuminates the history of wrought iron with carefully researched surveys of the craft in several countries, including Italy, Spain, England, Germany, France, Belgium, Holland, and America. Nearly 400 illustrations, including 73 clear drawings and 307 sharply focused photographs of gates, railings, screens, lighting fixtures, bannisters, balconies, door knockers, and other objects, chronicle the evolution of wrought iron as both a structural and decorative material. Special attention is devoted to early-twentieth-century developments and applications of this highly useful metal.

"Most of Australia's towns and cities sprang up at the height of the cast iron era - their development also coinciding with Australia's lavish gold boom period. The verandah - so suited to cast iron decoration-was the perfect architectural solution to the sunny Antipodean climate, and many beautiful cast iron-decorated terraces, villas and hotels bear testimony to this golden era of Australian history."--BOOK JACKET.

Magnificent study by expert on age-old craft provides a spirited overview. 140 illustrations include grilles, doors, and gates; stair railings and balustrades; small handles, hinges, door-knockers, and keyhole plates; Elizabethan-era firedogs; weather vanes; much more, many never catalogued before. Rich source of inspiration, royalty-free graphics, information.

Drawn from a rare 1924 source by a noted scholar, over 4,500 outstanding examples of antique ironwork run the gamut from door knockers and grilles to jewelry and religious symbols.

In the half century after the building of the Crystal Palace (1851), some architects, engineers, manufacturers and theorists believed that the fusion of iron and ornament would reconcile art and technology and create a new, modern architectural language. This book studies the development of mechanised architectural ornament in iron in nineteenth-century architecture, its reception and theorisation, and the contexts in which it flourished. As such, it offers new ways of understanding the notion of modernity in Victorian architecture.