Architectural Elements of the Nineteenth Century: Cast and Wrought Iron
Erika Marks
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Architectural Elements of the Nineteenth Century: Cast and Wrought Iron
Architecture of the Americas – March 26, 2003
By the middle of the nineteenth century, a revolution was under way, a revolution in technology, and this revolution would forever change the shape, structure and decoration of commercial and industrial buildings in America. But this advance in materials was not limited to large-scale construction. Thanks to a growth in population and advancements in transportation to accommodate the delivery of their items, many of the manufacturers of the day were able to expand their market and appeal through the publishing of catalogs. This discussion will highlight three of these manufacturers and present a brief overview of the breadth of their inventories as well as thoughts on the presentation of their material.
Before the industrial revolution, buildings and their parts were produced mainly by hand. It is important to understand that the components produced and marketed by the following manufacturers, from the minutiae of roof plates to the larger roof truss systems beneath them, were not unique by any means in their design. It was rather the potential for the mass-production of them, for a standardization of their creation, that made the industrial revolution so impacting on the building industry. For with this advance in production, combined with accelerated means of transportation, manufacturers were able to offer a competitive price that hand-production made impossible, and this efficiency in supply and demand helped to shape the vernacular styles that would ultimately decorate the landscape of urban America (Waite 5).
Iron—Wrought vs. Cast
Before embarking on the histories of some of the manufacturers, it is important to first address a bit about the technology involved in the production of iron in the mid 19th century, specifically the difference between cast iron and wrought iron.
Cast iron and wrought iron differ in two main ways; in their genesis and in their usefulness. It must first be understood that iron is not simply extracted from the earth. Rather, it can be worked after a process of heating (known as “smelting”) produces a lump that can be manipulated or forged (which is wrought iron) or it may be liquefied in large furnaces resulting in a castable material that is too brittle to be forged (Campbell 5). Advancements in furnace technology arose in the mid 19th century in many foundries, one of the first being the Winchester Furnace, developed by Roberts and Company in Pennsylvania from 1832 to 1850, making cast iron more plentiful, and bringing down the price of the material for the consumer.
Buffalo Eagle Iron Works and Philadelphia Architectural Iron Company
Not surprisingly, most of the manufacturers of iron works hailed from the larger urban areas. So was the case with the Buffalo Eagle Iron Works out of Buffalo, New York. By the time the proprietors of the company had published their Annual Catalog in 1859, cast iron was already a widely-used material in contemporary building in America (Waite, 9). As proof of the girth of the Buffalo Eagle inventory, the introductory page of their Annual Catalog made the following apology: “We are continually adding to our stock of Patterns, so much indeed, that we cannot undertake to exhibit them all in our Catalogue.” What the 1859 catalog was able to display was nonetheless impressive, from brackets and window caps, to pilasters and arches, all elements bearing the highly-ornamental styles of the day.
But some manufacturers had catalogs that contained more than just components for a building’s façade. For example, the Philadelphia Architectural Iron Company offered a more soup-to-nuts inventory. The first few plates of their 1872 catalog presented complex trussed roof frames and details of the fittings, roofs that the company’s owners made clear, in the first page of their catalog, were “suitable for Railroad Stations, Gas Works, Warehouses, Workshops, and Fire-Proof Buildings generally”, thus reinforcing the concept that highly complex structural systems that were once reserved for commercial buildings were now available to the general building public. Additionally, the same catalog included detailed descriptions and sections of some of the Company’s more advanced construction offerings, such as Corrugated Arched ceilings, which were “covered with a galvanized iron casing, which makes a very ornamental finish.”
But, as would be expected, the technology for mass-production was applicable to products of all scales, and so the Philadelphia Architectural Iron Company also supplied the smaller components, such as decorative cornices and trim moldings, and accent pieces of cast iron, such as rosettes and stars. (The same catalog of 1872 even offered iron cells for “jails or other purposes”, sold in either a single or a double-arched cut.)
Interestingly, however, between the two companies, Buffalo Eagle and Philadelphia Architectural, it is clear that the Philadelphia Architectural Iron Company possessed a stronger skill for marketing than some of their competitors. Not only does their 1872 catalog offer an extensive selection of building supplies rendered in finely detailed drawings, but it also contains testimonials of satisfied customers, as well as a client list of prominent local businesses who have installed PAIC elements in their own buildings. More proof, perhaps, of an attempt to broaden the appeal of their merchandise to the residential builder, and not just the commercial builder.
John B. Wickersham and the New York Wire Railing Company
Out of the many manufacturers of the day, one man in particular stands out. John B. Wickersham was more than just the proprietor of the New York Wire Railing Company. Indeed, he was both salesman and inventor, and his efforts in both roles culminated in an 1857 catalog of his wares that offered the building public everything from iron fencing to balconies to bedsteads
In her introduction for the reissued edition of Wickersham’s 1857 catalog, Victorian Ironwork, Margot Gayle speaks of the demand for fencing in the 19th century market:
In the mid-nineteenth century fences seemed to be used everywhere: cemetery lots, dooryard spaces, gardens, open fields, along railroad tracks, bordering sidewalks, around houses, churches, parks and public buildings. And fencing was often installed to control wandering cattle, to keep out interlopers, to contain watchdogs, and for other protective uses.
John Wickersham was well aware of the demand for all types of fencing, but he was particularly committed to the types required by rural communities and farmers. One of the first two of his many patents (garnered in his early twenties) were to improve the strength of utilitarian fencing. To prevent the sagging of the wires, Wickersham invented a variety of devices, including wedges and turnbuckles to tighten the wires and prevent slack over time. These variations were fully illustrated and explained in his 1857 catalog. Wickersham also promoted the Corrugated Hurdle Fence, claiming it was “the most serviceable fence yet introduced” and that “the rails are fastened by the means of a small wedge of wood, and have ample play to contract and expand with the different changes of the atmosphere”. Again, further proof that Wickersham was not just a salesman but an inventor.
Although, patents were not the only merits that he was awarded. In 1853, Wickersham was awarded the contract for much of the ironwork required in the building of the mighty exhibition building, the New York Crystal Palace. One of 28 iron suppliers involved in the construction, Wickersham and his Wire Railing Company offered both quantity and quality to the builders, and a price too fair to ignore. When it was completed, Wickersham’s iron railings wrapped around the exterior and interior and his fencing bordered its stories of galleries. These railings were “based on the same basic concept of interwoven crimped wire stabilized at intervals by iron ornaments integrally cast-on (Gayle)” that Wickersham had utilized in previous designs, but this time the intermittent ornamentations also “served as springs that maintained tension in the railing and gave it a resiliency against the pressure of crowds.”
But it was not the execution of the railings on the finished building that won him praise. Oddly enough, it was in the building’s demise that Wickersham received even greater recognition, when a blaze consumed the building in 1858.
According to Margot Gayle:
As the floors collapsed, the slender iron structural members were dragged down carrying Wickersham’s miles of iron railings with them…Then came the most serious testing of the Wickersham fence. Great crowds gathered, climbing the fence to watch the fire. The next day, thousands of men, women and children came to the scene hoping to poke through the charred ruins for valuables. The NY Post of October 6, 1858 reported that “the high iron paling guarded by twenty policemen excludes the multitude.” For his composite railings and fences at the Crystal Palace Wickersham was awarded a medal.
Beyond the public recognition, Wickersham had also received notice and admiration from key designers of the period. One in particular was Andrew Jackson Downing. Called to Washington in 1851 to redesign the White House grounds, Downing decided on Wickersham’s designs, writing that he had “found a manufacturer who has some handsome patterns and offers them at lower prices than are to be had elsewhere.”
Ever the inventor, Wickersham continued to evolve and improve upon his merchandise. Indeed, his 1857 catalog presents an impressive assortment of items and inventiveness. Another of Wickersham’s developments was his use of “composite” fencing, meaning fencing that was a combination of wrought and cast iron elements, to provide greater strength and durability. Additionally, Wickersham promoted “drawn” wire in his products, and the process, he insisted, was of great benefit to the product, by being able to “cast the solid rosettes upon the rod at the point of interception without aid of rivets. The pickets which surmount this railing are also cast directly upon the rods. By means of this process, the rods are rendered completely immovable and firm, and the admission of moisture is totally prevented.” To further convince his clients, Wickersham even included a table in his catalog charting the strengths of his techniques.
Wickersham’s writing skills were not without distinction as well. One particular passage in his 1857 catalog insists that his wire rural fence “is neat and tasty in appearance, and extremely durable.”
Wickersham even threw his hat into the ring of urban planning, by proposing “a horse-drawn elevated or balcony railing and promenade on Broadway” to keep traffic off of the city’s main thoroughfare (Gayle).
Foundries Finding Their Gold
Ultimately, it is not at all surprising that such a demand for mass-produced building components evolved in the nineteenth century, especially when one considers the impact of building pattern books that flooded the market at the same time. Thanks to designers like A.J. Downing, whose cottage designs often required highly ornamental facades, and the advancements in foundry operations, manufacturers were able to market their technology to the residential builder as well as the commercial builder. And thus, a marriage of aesthetics and technology was made in America and nurtured in a living landscape that was ripe for that popular dichotomy of well-made materials fashioned in the most superfluously decorative way.
Bibliography
Benjamin, Charles H. Notes on Machine Design. Cleveland: Charles H. Holmes, 1895.
Campbell, Marian. Ironwork. London: Her Majesty’s Stationary Office, 1985.
Fuller, Charles. Metal-Pattern Making. Scranton: International Textbook Company, 1928.
Gordon, Robert B. American Iron 1607-1900. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996
http://users.stargate.net/~vagelk/furnace.htm
Waite, Diana S. Architectural Elements. Princeton: The Pyne Press.
West, Thomas D. American Foundry Practice. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1885.
Wickersham, John B. Victorian Ironwork. Philadelphia: Athenaeum Library of Nineteenth Century America, 1977.
