Architectural Salvage Then

Between 1924 and 1926, Robert Philip Pope's Clare Lawn house [Richmond, London (U.K.), 1862, with additions by Sir Aston Webb and Ingress Bell begun 1893], built for hop merchant and orchid enthusiast Sir Frederick Wigan, was demolished. At the turn of the previous century, the structure had been ornately adorned with plasters by Walter Crane, marquetry by Stephen Webb, and a painting by John Everett Millais. Christie's of London auctioned the family's painting collection in 1915.

Four of Clare Lawn's cream marble/verde antique fireplace mantels were removed from the building before demolition. The Todhunter Company of New York offered the mantel above for sale from its 414 Madison Avenue showroom. Arthur Todhunter, a British immigrant, established the company to sell salvaged architectural materials (panelling, mantels, fireplaces, lighting fixtures) from his homeland. By the mid-1910s, Todhunter was creating its own reproductions of fine metal work and fireplace mantels. Clients for the mantels were not just New Yorkers: requests included a mantel for New Orleans architect Moise Goldstein (Craig Residence, 1925) and one for architect John F. Staub in Houston (Chris Miller Residence, 1929). Plans and drawings of the Todhunter mantelpieces are in the Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera at the Winterthur Library in Delaware.

Image above: Arthur Todhunter, "Gleanings from Old English Fireplaces." Arthur Todhunter, 414 Madison Avenue, New York City. undated catalogue, printed in England by Geo. Pulman and Sons, Ltd., London and Harrow. Architectural Trade Catalogs Collection, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.