Information and restoration about Victorian ‘Closed’ type cooking ranges.
Here is an interesting closed range dating from circa 1910 but installed in an 18th century property in Kirkby Lonsdale. A huge amount of work was required to bring this range back to working order but we were extremely pleased to light tbe fire on the last day we were there and see the chimney puffing away for the first time in at least half a century.
This is one of our largest restorations to date. It is a fantastic examples of a 1920s kitchen range and was one of the most extensive and impressive models available at the time. With art deco styling, extensive polishing, nickel plating, tiles and even walnut oven knobs there is nothing quite like the ‘Wellstood sidelight’. This range has been restored back to fully operational condition and will be in regular use.
We completed the restoration of a nice early 20th c Beetonette Portable Range with high pressure boiler this week. It is now on its way to its new home in Ireland.
This is a ‘Gradient’ range which is the brother to the much more famous ‘Herald’ range manufactured by R.Russell & Sons Ltd, Peel Foundry, Derby. This was a later addition (circa 1915) to a Georgian property in Bath and likely replaced the original roasting grate. As you can see the original central arch that is flanked by both hotplate and copper has been squared off to receive this range.
This range had laid dormant since the 1960’s when the kitchen moved to the first floor. It still had pots and pans on the top plate and baking trays in the oven when we came to do our site visit. We were asked to bring it back to working order but before we got started we had to have the chimney cleared. The job took all day as five decades of birds nest and general detritus was removed and bagged before the chimney could be swept. It was a mammoth task but the range is now happily at home and in use once again.
This range was found boarded up in a room that had been used as a dentists surgery in Batley. When we arrived the range was evidently in very poor order with parts missing, damaged or simply corroded so badly that they were as thin as paper. We removed the range, took it back to our workshops and after a lot of work were able to reinstate it in the same fireplace. Much to the delight of our client we lit a fire before leaving to test the range and demonstrate how it works. It was the first fire lit in its grate for over 80 years.
This is an interesting ‘open range’ that we restored for a client in Scotland. It dates from the 1870s and was most likely manufactured by Carron Company, Stirlingshire. It was in a terrible state when it arrived with several missing parts and many original parts beyond repair. We carried out the full restoration here at our workshops in Bristol and brought it back to life again before shipping it back to Scotland to be installed.
This is a DUX manufactured by William Green & Co Ltd of Ecclesfield. It was installed in a property in High Wycombe and was removed and restored by Osborne Restoration back to working order. The original stone surround was damaged beyond repair so we source and restored an original of the same design. This range originally dates from circa 1890 and was in a terrible state when we first surveyed the job. A lot of hard work has gone into bringing this one back from the brink not to mention the rebuilding of half the chimney breast to save it from collapse!
Here we have another Gold Medal Eagle Range. This model is one of the first to have the ventilating canopy though it sports a different design to the later New Gold Medal Eagle range. This range was installed into the kitchen of Triley Court, Abergavenny when the kitchens were extended circa 1900-1910.
Extensive work was carried out in order to bring this range back into working order though the client stopped short in not requiring the ovens to be functional. Huge efforts were made in clearing the chimney by out team and a total of thirty bags of soot, dust, dead birds and other filth were removed before repairs could begin. Patterns and replacement castings were produced as well as countless repaired parts using mechanical, brazing and electric welding techniques.
