HULL HISTORICAL CATALOG FOR PERIOD WOOD MOLDINGS, 1870-1940 (05-28-02)
The Key to Economical Reproduction of Period Moldings.
Published Summer 2002 Period Homes Magazine.
By John M. Corbett. Based on research by Brent Hull,
founder of Hull Historical Millwork.

FAITHFUL ADDITION. Hull Historical was called upon to duplicate trim details for an addition to a 1920's classical revival residence. The casing is a simple square stock pattern with a back band added (HHBB05, from the Hull Molding Catalog). This molding tells the story of the architectural transition from arts and crafts to the period revival movement.

Millwork for the great majority of the historic buildings in existence today, those built between the Civil War and WWII, was produced under a nationwide distribution system more uniform and comprehensive than any in existence today. This means that your historic molding was very likely distributed nationwide by one of a very few companies who all shared the same molding profiles and sent out the same catalog. Understanding this can give you a better idea about where to look today to find affordable reproductions of this historic millwork. This system came into being rather abruptly after the Civil War. Proprietary millwork catalogs were first issued in the 1870's. In the 1880's several large Midwestern manufacturers banded together as the Sash, Door and Blind Association of the (so called at that time) Northwest to establish grading rules for the then dominant species, eastern white pine. In 1890, they commissioned publisher Rand McNally to issue a single comprehensive molding catalog. These catalogs were hardbound with different covers for each manufacturer and distributed to local lumber yards across North America. Soon after, the Association established the "8000" series numbering system to identify each item. Vestiges of this scheme (four digits beginning with "8") can still be seen in reference to items in millwork catalogs today, even though the system itself no longer has any meaning or coherence. Through changes in taste, struggles for dominance in the industry and through the migration of the centers of lumber production to the south and west, these "Universal Standard Molding Catalogs" were reissued every few years throughout the period. As long as they stayed popular enough enjoy steady sales, moldings remained in the catalog and were distributed across the country without variation.

By placing these "Standard" moldings in the bigger story of the development of architectural decoration in America, we can see trends that affect their present availability. Before the Civil War, catalogs were little known. Taste was guided by "pattern books", illustrated essays on the principles of design produced by celebrated master builders such as Asher Benjamin and his successors. These were intended to teach design skills, not to furnish design elements and they rarely presented full profiles of millwork. Certainly anyone who has worked with "antebellum" structures can attest that moldings from the period don't always match up from builder to builder, never mind across any significant geographic area. With the rise of industrialization after the Civil War, however, and the resulting concentration of millwork production with a few companies, the producers found it necessary to standardize production and to take control of the public's taste, hence the creation of the "Catalogs". For a long period after WWII, the role of wood in architecture diminished, but now with the emergence of a new set of influences, period structures and styles have made a modest but solid return to viability. The same "Universal Standard" profiles, uniform documentation and wide distribution that served the timber industrialists so well a century ago, are now making the moldings of the "Universal Standard Catalogs" well adapted for a second wave of distribution.

By following their story since going out of style and out of production, builders can more easily know where to find these moldings. For many years, reproduction of "Standard" moldings has required the grinding of a new molding knife. This was a steep initial investment with limited return. After the molding was run, the knife in question would most likely lie forgotten in the millworker's archive, identified only by the name of the contractor or project, too expensive to throw out and too useless to sell. In effect, what has transpired over many decades is the steady but piecemeal and poorly documented restoration of "The Universal Standard Molding Catalog" in custom millwork shops dispersed across the original area of distribution. Some shops have in this way accumulated thousands of profiles and now, in the information age, they are circulating these archives on cd-rom and on the Internet. Other shops have issued lines of "Victorian" and other period moldings. While some are undersized reinterpretations meant to appeal to modern nostalgia for the period, others are authentic reproductions. Hull Historical Millwork has published its own "Historic Molding Catalog", including the most popular moldings from all the "Universal Standard Molding Catalogs" (see sidebar) and is itself a resource for researching and locating moldings. These are all faithful "Standard" moldings, modeled from historic samples and from the original catalog cuts. Somewhere in the country, a knife has probably already been ground for your molding, and now, between the rising interest in period work and access to the tools of the information age, you may actually be able to find it.

A NEW SOURCE FOR DATING AND IDENTIFYING PERIOD MOLDINGS

In March of 2002, Hull Historical Millwork published the "Historical Moldings Catalog", a catalog which not only makes available 650 of the most popular moldings in the Victorian, Arts and Crafts and Period Revival styles, but which is in itself a research tool for the field, enabling designers, builders and preservationists to identify moldings and properly place them in their historical and stylistic context. This catalog is an outgrowth of research that Brent Hull was doing for a book on historic millwork. In working on the book, he assembled what is maybe the biggest archive of original period millwork catalogs in the country, over 70 catalogs printed from 1870 to 1940, an era he refers to as the "Golden Age" of historical millwork. It occurred to him that the most practical and immediate means for presenting the subject was as a working catalog that furnished historical background for each molding, including a description of its stylistic elements, the time period during which it was originally available and an original period illustration. This catalog will continue to serve the needs of the industry in future editions by making available additional moldings from the period as interest arises and by placing them in their historical context. The Catalog is available from Hull Historical, Inc. of Fort Worth, Texas.

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Custom Molding Fabricators:

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Amherst Woodworking and Supply, Northampton MA, Custom Millwork and Molding Packages.

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A. J. Stairs, Inc., Lakewood NJ, Wood Stair Parts.

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Weston Millwork Company, Weston MO, Custom historic window sash & doors.

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Cumberland Woodcraft Co., Inc., Carlisle PA, Custom and Stock Moldings. Catalog.

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Sonrise Woodcarving Studio, Cottekill NY, Custom Woodcarving and Furniture Building.

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Honeoye Falls Millwork, Honeoye Falls NY, Custom Millwork & Moldings.

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Re-View, North Kansas City MO, Wood & Metal Window Restoration. Commercial.

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Caroline Sly, Ashfield MA, Traditional Carpenter & Joiner.

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Smith Restoration Sash, Providence, RI, Custom Reproduction Window Sash.