HENRY CLAY FRICK BALCONY

Nic East - Monday, May 26, 2008 - 7:16am

In 1991 my friend, the Philadelphia Classical Architect, Alvin Holm came to me with a proposal to build a 4 ft by 12 ft long balcony for his client, Dr Henry Clay Frick of Alpine, New Jersey. Dr Frick loves birds and also wanted a feeder attached to the railing of the balcony so that he could feed them at his leisure. Dr Frick is the third in his legendary family with the same name since he is the grandson of the original partner of Andrew Carnegie and, with his wife now hosts the celebrated Frick Museum on 5th Avenue in New York City. The house was designed in the Classical Style and the balcony was to be of "wrought iron" using the French Classic Style as a guide. We made a lot of sketches and finally came up with the design that you see installed here. The framework is of 4" standard steel channel, made in pieces, completely assembled in our shop, pre-finished and then dismantled and shipped to the site for installation. The consoles that support the balcony are cast aluminum and weigh about 40 pounds each. The railing is completely made of forged steel elements welded into panels that would be reasonably easy to install. I even made a complete illustrated set of installation instructions in my computer CADD program. Since the TURNER CONSTRUCTION CO. was building the house, we had to allow them to do the installation. It has the bird feeder on the left return rail. The owners loved their new balcony so much that they directed their landscaper to hire me to build a terrace railing to match the balcony. INNOCENTI AND WEIBEL of Long Island, NY was the landscape contractor.

Frick

» Nic East's blog | add new comment

Very Attractive

Frank Castiglione - Monday, May 26, 2008 - 8:07am

Hi Nic,
That is a very attractive balcony, nice work. Did you cast the aluminum parts?
Frank

» reply

Aluminum Castings

Nic East - Monday, May 26, 2008 - 3:22pm

Frank: I had a design all ready to go and was idly paging through Lawler Machine and Foundry's catalog when I spied almost exactly what I had drawn. After calculating my costs vs. theirs including postage and skid, I found that they were far cheaper than my forging would cost. My architect said, "Save the money, the client will want railings and that is where to put the value, not is props under a balcony".

He was right, I got the second contract and we put the finish on the railings, which were the things their hands would touch. I believe it was the best choice since I have always put my very best work where it would be touched, seen up close and handled, like around gate latches, handles and lock sets, mail slots, etc.

So, in a word, "No."

Nic East, Jim Thorpe, PA USA Creativity begins with a novel thought.

» reply

Hi Nic, absolutely lovely

Adrian Wood - Monday, May 26, 2008 - 4:10pm

Hi Nic, absolutely lovely balcony rail. Love the heavy scroll supports under the balcony. Do you have any close ups of them?
Adrian

» reply

Cast Consoles

Nic East - Monday, May 26, 2008 - 6:48pm

Adrian:
I looked through my files thinking I may have had something in my stash of unscanned pix, but no. I have to dig deeper, I guess. Sorry.

Nic East, Jim Thorpe, PA USA
Creativity begins with a novel thought.

» reply

Great set for the balcony

R L Sidebottom - Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - 8:04am

Great set for the balcony

Rick Sidebottom
Aspiring Metal Artist

» reply

Setting

Nic East - Wednesday, May 28, 2008 - 9:48pm

Rick
This house was built around 1990 on an old foundation. It has 17 palladian windows on the first floor. Closter Dock Rd. is a totally tree-lined street in a very upscale neighborhood, just across the Hudson from the Cloisters.

Nic East, Jim Thorpe, PA USA
Creativity begins with a novel thought.

» reply

Hi Nic! Great work! I am

Rob Sigafoos - Wednesday, May 28, 2008 - 12:59pm

Hi Nic!
Great work! I am very excited to see you are in my neck of the woods, and I could actually go and see this wonderful piece in person. I really like the intricate level of detail you have in the railing. Good show!
Rob

» reply

Neck of the woods

Nic East - Wednesday, May 28, 2008 - 9:44pm

Hi Rob;
The house where the work is installed is n Closter Dock Road in Alpine, NJ while I am now in MacAllen Texas. Where are you? Thanks for looking in. When I get back to Jim Thorpe, I will be able to catch up.

Nic East, Jim Thorpe, PA USA
Creativity begins with a novel thought.

» reply