The great thing about 19th century (and early 20th century) architecture is the pure sculptural wonders that are found in many of the buildings. We previously looked at some interesting ram's head, brownstone handrails over by Manhattan Avenue and found another pretty distinct design detail at number 160 West 130th Street, just right around the corner from ACP/7th Avenue. Yeah, it's the cheaper, skinnier type of handrail but that outrageous, claw and hooked hand adds a lot of interest. The claws also appear to be made of brass which set them apart from the standard cast iron that is usually found decorating most stoops. This Central Harlem block has a few shells left on it but the brownstones at the western end are quite dramatic. See the the ram's head handrail from our past post: LINK. Photo by Ulysses
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
☞ BESPOKE: Clawed Brownstone Handrails
The great thing about 19th century (and early 20th century) architecture is the pure sculptural wonders that are found in many of the buildings. We previously looked at some interesting ram's head, brownstone handrails over by Manhattan Avenue and found another pretty distinct design detail at number 160 West 130th Street, just right around the corner from ACP/7th Avenue. Yeah, it's the cheaper, skinnier type of handrail but that outrageous, claw and hooked hand adds a lot of interest. The claws also appear to be made of brass which set them apart from the standard cast iron that is usually found decorating most stoops. This Central Harlem block has a few shells left on it but the brownstones at the western end are quite dramatic. See the the ram's head handrail from our past post: LINK. Photo by Ulysses
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These look similar to the ball and claw feet found on furniture, but those are often bird talons, these appear to be more like animal claws supported at the wrist and not the ball. Very interesting.
ReplyDeleteI wish they were on my outer stairs!
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