the remarkably intact and largely unaltered hardware of the alexander ramsey mansion

i often refer to living a dichotomous lifestyle when telling people how i went from molecular geneticist to the urban "archaeologist" at demolition and excavation sites. back then, at moment's notice i would leave the laboratory a little early if an impending demolition was on the horizon near campus. on the other hand i would sometimes be called back if a guest lecturer was giving a seminar on research that aligned closely with mine. this continuous overlap would later become a struggle, where my overwhelming urge to spend more time documenting abandoned structures and wandering demolition sites kept me up at night, knowing that in a short time all this would be lost.

despite the transition being a rather confusing and gradual process, i landed in the right place and once my feet were firmly planted, i never looked back. in fact, i can now see the last 10 years of my life quickly pass by without an "off" switch to ground me when i was injured, incredibly exhausted, terribly burned out or all the above.

going into 2016 i plan to change things, by taking a more relaxed and thoughtful approach to the "case studies" or projects i wish to pursue in greater detail. i often look back on my previous preservation efforts, long before i abandoned science, to relearn how to see things through in a methodical manner. in this way depth and substance will catapult a given narrative into being a multifaceted experience that can be dissected into sub-topics for revisiting later.

one such project i spent a great deal of time on, and paid unabridged attention to, was an in-depth analysis of builders' hardware used in two well-known houses located in st. paul and nearby hastings respectively. the image gallery driving this post is solely from the alexander ramsey mansion, focusing on its remarkably intact and well-maintained hardware.

note: this is only a "teaser" from the ramsey house hardware book i self-published while in graduate school back in 2004.

from the prologue: after reviewing the may 1871 building specifications for the ramsey house, i noticed a number of incongruities between the suggested selection of hardware to be installed versus what was actually used that is, the hardware we see today. according to the hardware specifications, the predominant trend opted for a rather plain assortment of hardware to be installed. as the following images will obviously demonstrate, there was a major shift in selection at some point prior to installation. what brought about the dramatic changes in hardware selection is open to conjecture. compiled and written by eric j. norstrom. the ebook contains 93 pages of photography and descriptions revolving around the historic ramsey mansion interior hardware.