The houses on Eager Street are full of relics from eras past- alongside the old newspapers, bottles and personal items that we’ve highlighted before, it’s also important to examine the building materials that come together to form a home. It’d be easy for a few sets of hinges to get lost amid the thousands of bricks, joists, and floorboards that we’re salvaging, but it was impossible to overlook these ornate beauts.
This hinge is almost certainly original- despite several coats of paint, one can still make out intricate designs along the wings. Small pieces like this hint at a level of quality and craftsmanship in home construction and finishing that seems threatened with extinction. To be sure, we’re not suggesting that these hinges were tapped out by a artisanal blacksmith- they were likely mass-produced in a local or regional factory. But it’s clear that when these hinges were made around 1906-1907, aesthetic value and attention to detail had not yet been crowded out by the relentless drive towards maximum efficiency and profit.
Baltimore Brick By Brick 