Wrought Iron Porch Railings
Wrought iron porch railings of all types of patterns and colors can be found in abundance in Gladstone Park. That’s because they were the go-to rail material commonly used to prevent people from falling off front porch steps and stoops leading into the many English Tudor and Georgian homes found in the neighborhood.
But wrought iron front porch railings were not always popular in Gladstone Park. When the Volga Germans began building their Dutch colonials in great numbers in the community during the first two decades of the 20th Century, their traditions did not incorporate the use of metal railings. Nor did the bungalow designs of the 1920s with their masonry and brick- or stone-capped front steps.
Wrought iron front porch railings didn’t really came into their own in Gladstone Park until English-style houses took off in the 1930s. British architecture, which emphasized ornateness with the look of antiquity, went for straight and twisted rails interspersed with panels of C-shaped and S-shaped scrolls at their front entries. The designs could get very elaborate with circles, ovals, rectangles, and diamonds linked by baskets or knuckles. Later the Georgians houses, associated with the English love of symmetry and classic proportions, focused on more harmonious and uniform designs.
Appreciated for their timeless yet elegant appearance, wrought iron porch railings continued to be used when mid-century split-levels and ranches were built in the community. As the last vacant lots were being developed for even more modern homes, buyers who could afford their cost over wooden rails also installed them…although at increasingly taller heights to meet new building codes. Some of these later styles were more naturalistic (beanstalk, branches, grape vines, etc.).
While the manufacture of wrought iron railings were first made possible after blast furnaces debuted in the 15th century, they weren’t widely used in home applications until (German) Gothic and Victorian houses were built in the 1800s. By that time, they were seen as functional, sturdy elements that made passage up an exterior stairway safer. As techniques of working the iron improved, more intricate designs were possible, adding a more decorative element to the structure. But wrought iron’s biggest advantage has always been its long-lasting nature, outside, in all kinds of weather. It is not uncommon to see Gladstone Park homeowners who treasure their railings originally installed 70, 80 or even 90 years ago having them blasted of the bits of rust that accumulated through the decades and repainted to look “brand new.”
Although today there are companies that will install new (mainly) bare bones wrought iron railings today, they mostly have no access to the highly decorative offerings of the past and had no hand in original installations. The author has thus far found it impossible to track down the Chicago companies that produced and installed the original vintage wrought iron porch railings in the Gladstone Park neighborhood going back 100 years. Undoubtedly, there were pattern books with design names and numbers builders and homeowners would use to order their preferences, but right now they are lost to local history. We do not even know if some of them were handcrafted on site by welding in different modular elements. All this made digging up the nomenclature to describe the style elements of what is seen in the photographs all the more difficult. If anyone has more information on any of these aspects, please contact her.
Because the photographer had to take the long view of entire front porches to illustrate their complete rail structures, it is essential to view the photographs in enlarged form to get the full impact of the details of the decorative panels and artistic style elements.
Click on a photo to enlarge and visit the gallery.
