Expert: Rikki Nyman - 12/17/2009

Question
I noticed a question/ answer that you did last year.  It was about the 1940's Hallcraft Houses built in the 1940's in Phoenix.  Maybe you could help me with something.  Well, I have a 1947 Red Brick house in the Lafayette District (in between the Biltmore and Arcadia).  The house has a mail slot next to the door.  The mailman drops the letters into the slot on the outside and the mail falls down through the wall and I open up a little door on the inside to get the mail.  My question is: Where could I find the original door that goes on the inside.  Whomever renovated the house replaced it with an ugly piece of particle board and and big ugly silver cabinet pull.  If I look into the hole I can see the original holes were the old hinges used to be.  Any ideas?  Most/ all the neighbors have completely done away the mail slot altogether, so there's no help there.  Thanks.


Answer
David --

One of the greatest American pastimes is remodeling our homes. Unfortunately, remuddles by POs can be discouraging for those of us who want to preserve the art and craftsmanship of the past in our older house.

If you can locate someone with an original door, take a picture and hire a carpenter to duplicate it. That would be the fastest, lowest cost means of replacing the door.

Failing that, you could start haunting estate sales in your area. Get to the sale early and head for the garage, which is the most likely spot to put something like that.

The Phoenix metro area has quite a few antique stores so you might make some antiquing forays. Glendale is good and there used to be some good hunting territory in the south Scottsdale area.

Search periodically on eBay. The darnedest things show up there.

Good luck! Those of us who have worked to restore our vintage homes salute you!

Best regards,
Rikki Nyman
www.antiquehomestyle.com