Architectural and Altered Antiques
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See how Olde Good Things fabricates our famous copper patch mirrors made from reclaimed copper sheeting. We make these beauties by hand in our shop in Scranton, PA, so not only do you get a piece of history but you get a sustainably correct decorative piece that brightens up any room and makes a great talking point. Order online or call to inquire about custom pieces (1-888-233-9678).
Farmhouse style rustic is one of the most popular design trends sweeping the globe. Not only is the use of wood and metal an edgy look, it can provide the ideal balance between modern and cozy in the chemistry of your home.
Designing your kitchen with Farmhouse design elements is easy, and it will give the room a unique balance between cutting edge and traditional. Distressed finishes highlight this look; sleek distressed wall wood skins and timeless distressed furniture complement each other. Pair with vintage white subway tile and antique tin mirrors, wood and metal baskets, and chicken wire glass on the cabinet doors for a finished and perfected rustic kitchen and dining room. Other design elements to consider are iron hooks on planks to hang utensils, coats, or even antique light fixtures. Farmhouse style dining tables, in particular, are one way to bring this contemporary vibe into your space while inventing a traditional place to create years of memories.
The artisans at Olde Good Things have perfected the art of the farmhouse dining table. Like our other crafted items, the dining room tables are made from reclaimed materials, often from buildings over a century old that would otherwise end up clogging up the landfill. Custom salvaged wood from classic buildings is actually of a far better quality than the pressed fabricated wood used in new furniture. When choosing pieces of reclaimed wood from historic brownstones and famous buildings, our architecturologists select only the best reclaimed wood from the beams and joists. Then we send the specially selected wood to our warehouse in Scranton, where our craftsmen begin to sculpt and shape the dining room tables. You can learn more about our custom process here.
If you have decided to go with this stunning look, measure your space and record the dimensions. Then contact us at Olde Good Things so we can help you decide on the right design style, color, finish, and size for your custom reclaimed wood dining table. All of our dining room tables are made to custom length, width, and height. Our beautiful wood choices include pine, oak, maple, and walnut. The finish for your dining room table top can be smooth, semi-rustic, or rustic with a stain to suit your color palette.
We also offer traditional benches as an addition to each custom dining table.
Despite its age, the wood used retains its quality and longevity, and will look and feel better than anything on the market. If you are ready to begin designing your custom reclaimed wood dining table, please contact us today.
As New York City ushers in a new era of progress, distinguished by the revitalization of some of the city’s most famous landmark neighborhoods, Olde Good Things is on standby to make sure that the most stunning architectural elements, the irreplaceable historical details of bygone days, are preserved and made available to our customers.
Our recent reclamation from the 42nd and Vanderbilt Warren and Wetmore Building is just one example of why the architecturologists at OGT are part of a rare breed. OGT is a leader in the architectural salvage industry. We have been rescuing and reclaiming NYC skyscrapers since the 90s, each time putting in the effort to preserve and cherish the custom details that distinguish the historical treasures in The Big Apple. We have watched other salvage experts fall by the wayside due to the immense effort it requires to safely rescue these pieces of history. If New York City is the “city that never sleeps”, you could say that about the architecturologists at Olde Good Things.
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In order to pave the way for the city’s new fourth tallest skyscraper, known as “One Vanderbilt”, the former Warren and Wetmore building was demolished, but not before we extracted some of its most significant embellishments. The building faced the west side entrance of Grand Central Terminal for a century, and our salvage artifacts are almost as close as you can get to having a piece of the historic station!
In fact, the Beaux arts architecture of the building’s facade was meant to reflect the architecture of Grand Central Terminal, which was also designed by Warren and Wetmore. The terminal itself was the largest architectural and commerce deal in New York City at the turn of the century, spanning over 20 city blocks.
Our rescue at 42nd and Vanderbilt brings home the historical elements of a building designed and built to directly complement the train station concourse circa 1910. One of our most prominent salvage items is the cast iron figural frieze with double Bacchus faces from the building facade. We were also able to preserve a captivating terra cotta frieze featuring children rejoicing amongst a bountiful harvest of fruit, as well as a treasure trove of structural fluted columns.
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If you frequent the Murray Hill neighborhood of Manhattan you may have happened across our flagship store at 149 Madison Avenue. Impressive and fascinating, this sprawling ground floor space is populated with some of the finest design pieces in our inventory. An eclectic array of inventory from industrial chic to architectural antiques. Lots of NYC statement pieces! Take a look at our video tour for just a small sampling of what you will find inside this 5600 sf location of Olde Good Things.
Going “green” has been a popular theme chanted in Hollywood, schools, and corporate America over the last decade. Recycle, reduce, reuse – and close the loop, right? The truth of the matter is that Olde Good Things has been ahead of the “green” movement since we began back in 1995. We’ve been salvaging, restoring, refurbishing, re-purposing, and reusing architectural goods since the day we opened, and we couldn’t be more proud of the results.
According to the UN FAO State of the World’s Forests 2007 report, a report written to express the level of global deforestation, “the statistics on global production and consumption of wood fuel (charcoal and other energy uses) round wood (paper and other non-lumber products) and sawn wood (lumber). It estimates global production at 1.7 billion (46%), 1.6 billion (43%) and 421 million (11%) cubic meters.” These numbers are staggering, but when you stop to consider that these numbers are 6 years old (population and industry growth have increased steadily over the last six years), you shouldn’t be surprised that the number of trees cut down every year is nearing the tens of billions.
At Olde Good Things we know that trees are literally the life’s breath of the planet, which is why we go out of our way to include lumber and wood reclamation in our architectural salvage efforts. We salvage wood from old barns, churches, farm houses, and other structures dating back to the late 1800s. This reclaimed wood isn’t used as fuel or ground down into saw dust, it is lovingly and skillfully restored and used to handcraft our more beautiful farm tables. Not only that, much of the wood pieces we salvage from churches and other period structures are restored and reused as architectural touches in many home remodels throughout the US.
When our customers choose to use reclaimed or salvaged wood in their home remodels or interior design projects, they are choosing to bring history, beauty, and an element of “green” into their lives.
Between the Civil War and WWI, the US became a booming industrial society. Factories, warehouses, and mills popped up all over the face of the nation – much like a rash that had been left unchecked. After WWI many of the factories that were used to build household goods, automobiles, farming equipment, and textiles were put to use building war machines and service goods for the men fighting overseas. While this may sound like a business boom for the industrial complex, it was a shot in the gut. Much of the goods made were manufactured at a fraction of the usual costs, and with so many men fighting in the war, factories were forced to employ women (women were thought to be weaker, slower workers). When the war ended, despite the influx of male workers seeking their old jobs, many of the factories that had employed them had fallen on hard times.
Fast forward to 2013; those factories from the historical Industrial era are still standing – hollow skeletons where an American Dream’s heart and soul used to be. These hulking structures are condemned, dangerous, and marked for demolition. Rather than allow much of the interior industrial goods to fill a landfill, Olde Good Things brings along a squad of skilled salvage experts and we remove the lighting fixtures, the work benches, the doors, the glass, the machine bases, and anything else we can haul away in our trucks.
Industrial chic is a growing trend in interior decorating circles, and Olde Good Things loves providing home owners, designer/decorators, and architectural firms with authentic, industrial items for their design and build projects.
We at Olde Good Things believe that if it can add value, beauty, and history to someone’s home, it shouldn’t go to waste. We believe that “green” is beautiful, useful, and worthy of our time and efforts.
If you’d like to turn your next home remodel or redesign project into a “green” design and build, visit one of our locations to take a tour through our growing inventory.
Over a Century of History with Industrial Holophane Light Fixtures
ANCHOR CHAIN TABLES
In Scranton we sit on two warehouses piled high with vintage glass, picturesque sheets of tin, salvaged wood paneling, doors, glass, and all the marble you could imagine. It’s a designer’s paradise.
In those warehouses we take these raw materials and spin them into altered antiques, pieces that pay homage to the riches of yesterday, but also respect the modernity of today.
Say hello to this pile of chain
Ten years ago, we met a retired Staten Island Ferry headed to the junkyard. Most of the ship had already been cut down for scrap, but we were able to salvage two truckloads of anchor and chain. That week we hauled it to the warehouse.
Why? We love the cool solidarity of metal, the gradients and color of wizened wrought iron, the flecks of original paint and this chain in particular. Called bar chain, each link has a bar running down the center, which keeps the chain from tangling as it drops anchor.
Showcasing these links, tables immediately emerged. Round, square and rectangular with tops of marble, glass, or reclaimed pine, these pieces became dining tables, coffee tables, end tables, display tables for boutiques (Tommy Hilfiger commissioned 200), and even breakfast nook eateries.
We had to get more chain! We found more in Florida, salvaging from a boat in the Miami River, links were four inches wide, six inches long and five-eighths of an inch thick. In all, the trucks carried 80,000 pounds of bar chain to Scranton.
Stocked back up, soon lamps followed tables. Four feet standing lamps or sold in sets of two to cap off a chesterfield, they are the perfect salute to old becoming new.
Pair of Antique Anchor Chain Table Lamps
We are still designing new chain link pieces. Send us your ideas and we will design a piece. Lastly, send us a pic of the piece in your home! We found this chain in a shipyard. To see it re-purposed and posing happily in your living room?! Well, THAT is the missing link.
View this particular chain table at our Bowery NYC store.
Original factory Holophanes grace this dining room table
Vintage industrial light fixtures are a sleek lighting accessory for any contemporary home or office. Durable Holophane lighting, in particular, carries with it a powerful history of scientific innovation and industrial applications. “Holophane” comes from the Greek words Holos and Phainein, translated “to appear completely luminous”.
The Holophane Glass story begins in the 1890s when French electric scientist Andre Blondel and Greek engineer Spiridion Psaroudaki covered a glass globe in the laboratory with horizontal prisms positioned to manipulate light. They were awarded a U.S. patent in 1893, when Holophane fixtures were already being manufactured in France and exported across Europe and the U.S.
Otis A. Mygatt acquired the rights for the illumination technology in 1896 and founded the Holophane Company in London. Holophane Glass Company was incorporated in America in 1898, with its first headquarters on Broadway in New York.
Huge strides were made in illumination technology during the Progressive Era of the early 1900s. Holophane Glass Company employed specialized engineers to study the distribution of light. The result was an innovative line of globes and reflectors made of clear crystal glass with prisms constructed to direct rays of light both downward and outward. When General Electric partnered with Holophane in 1911, they combined the classic products with a frosted line of Fostoria glassware.
The company began providing “scientific illumination” to industrial facilities. During the 1920s, Holophane Glass developed “hibay” lighting for the economical illumination of large factories, including the Chevrolet Motor Co. stockroom in Tarrytown, NY, and Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing in East Pittsburgh.
Careful removal of factory Holophane lights
Holophane’s influence continued through 1930s, lighting industrial areas and famous spots like Radio City Studios, NY, The House of Lords in England, and Westminster Abbey during the coronation of King George VI. During WWII, Holophane lit war plants and airplane hangars around the world. By 1945, Holophane lighting had penetrated into the Senate, the House of Representatives, and the Library of Congress.
Holophane Glass Company coined the term “illumineering” based on the visual and physiological needs of the human eye, a concept that is still pervasive in lighting technology. Through the present day, Holophane continues to research and develop street lighting, fluorescent commercial lighting, contemporary outdoor illumination, and lighting for emergency applications.
Vintage Holophane light fixtures are very popular in upscale auction houses and industrial reclamation circles. The trademark of these “luminaires” is a borosilicate glass refractor or reflector. The prisms direct light both up and down, which is perfect for illuminating a space without glare or dark spots.
Olde Good Things has acquired many of these lights over the years and many commercial and retail customers have purchased these reclaimed lights and put them to use in new applications. Here you see one customer
Olde Good Things was fortunate to retrieve a collection of Holophane pendant lighting from a century-old plant in New Jersey. These industrial beauties range in size from 15” to 21” in diameter.
Holophane Lighting evenly throws light for maximum illumination
Visit Olde Good Things to discover more architectural treasures.
Inquire about other sizes available at websales@oldegoodthings.com. 888-233-9678.
Credits:
http://www.holophane.com/company/history/index.asp
https://www.justcollecting.com/miscellania/antique-holophane-lighting
Bell jar lanterns are a classic tribute to centuries of lighting. They add a traditional, yet eclectic, feel to a space. The evolution of the bell jar light fixture proves that they can be adapted to accentuate a number of functions and design styles.
Middle Ages
Lanterns appear in medieval manuscripts as early as the 13th century. Some of these forms included basic frames with panels of horn or glass. The first innovations in lighting technology were the most basic way to illuminate the dark, clammy hallways.
Leonardo da Vinci is the first known inventor to put a flame inside a glass container fitted to a water-filled glass globe.
Renaissance Bell Jar Fixtures
As lighting evolved, pendant lighting styles moved away from carved hanging lamps of wood and metal to round glass chimney lanterns. The fixture was suspended from the ceiling by a circular plate, hook, and chains.
With the creation of ornately embellished chandeliers in 17th century France and 18th century England, pendants made from crystals and frosted glass were en vogue up until the 20th century.
18th Century
In expansive, darkly-paneled 18th century homes, light emanated mainly from the fireplace, or candles. However, candles were expensive. Homes incorporated the trick of medieval and renaissance predecessors by enclosing candles in glass pendants to be hung from the ceiling. Often, the candles were only lit during festivities, and the glass jar prevented the candles from being snuffed out by a draft.
American Colonial and Federalist Period
Bell jar light fixtures were quite popular during the colonial period in America. These fixtures were elaborately design with reliefs and other decorative finishes. A smoke bell cap on the pendants prevented candle smoke from blackening the ceilings or walls.
Colonial India
Bell jar lanterns, known as Hundi lanterns, were popular and widespread in colonial India. Here, hand-blown glass fixtures were made in a variety of sparkling, jewel-like colors in styles representing a meeting of Western and Indian design.
Contemporary
Bell jar lighting remains popular to the present day. Obviously, the function has evolved over time from candles, oil, or gas to electric pendant fixtures. A number of designs, etched patterns, and colors embellish homes across the world with a style that is both vintage and modern, traditional and edgy.
Olde Good Things recently acquired a collection of fine bell jar glass carefully curated by an avid collector over years of traveling to India and purchasing antique fine crystal and glass bell jars. The antique pieces are available in both cut and clear crystal, ruby red or emerald green.
Credits:
http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/8484621/list/ring-in-lighting-style-with-a-bell-jar-lantern
http://www.currentmiddleages.org/tents/article6lantern.pdf
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2005-07-31/news/0507310305_1_pendants-furniture-and-lighting-designer-drama-and-intimacy
