Prince Of Petworth » Blog Archive » Well This Was A Cool Find

Well This Was A Cool Find

23 March 2009 10:54 PM | By Prince Of Petworth in Adams Morgan, Neat Neighborhood Find, Neighborhoods - Adams Morgan, Neighborhoods - Truxton Circle, Truxton Circle

I love not having a destination on my walkabouts because I somehow always manage to end up stumbling upon the coolest places. So at first, I just thought this was a cool building with some sweet weathered old school signs. But upon further inspection I noticed a sign that said it was the Brass Knob’s warehouse.

The Brass Knob is the cool spot we looked at last May in Adams Morgan on 18th Street. This warehouse is located at 57 N Street, NW. I nearly had a heart attack when I entered and was greeted by dozens and dozens of old doors. Mind you, it’s been fairly well established I’m not 100% normal and of course post a “door of the day” feature. I guess you can imagine my reaction.

The place is huge. It has two floors and an outdoor area. In addition to doors there were hundreds of windows, radiators, bathtubs, and much much more. Super cool. Lots more photos after the jump.

23 March 2009 11:48 PM | IMGoph Said:

why did i read “reaction” as “erection”

24 March 2009 12:09 AM | Nita Said:

Wicked awesome. And a great example of why we support PoP blogging about greater DC (to all those naysayers who insist he should blog only about the Petworth area).

24 March 2009 12:14 AM | L Said:

That’s pretty awesome. What fun that warehouse must be for that cat.

24 March 2009 8:59 AM | Formica Jones Said:

Ohhh man, this is such a way cool find. Wow, that shit is straight up dope!

24 March 2009 9:05 AM | Anonymous Said:

The Brass Knob Warehouse is truly a treasure. I have purchased a number of “one of a kind” items there for my house, including two beautiful, refinished clawfoot tubs. If you are a fan of old houses, GO THERE!

24 March 2009 9:27 AM | cupcake Said:

The best! The ultimate in green building is not manufacturing new stuff – plus the old is so much more interesting. Although not in the district Community Forklift (Hyattsville) and Habitat ReStore (Hyattsville and Alexandria) are other great finds for used building materials and treasures.

24 March 2009 9:34 AM | Divine Said:

That place looks amazing. I like the sign. It’s delightfully Art Nouveau.

24 March 2009 9:34 AM | esteban307 Said:

Yeah I’ve bought some old locks for my rowhouse from the Brass Knob. The warehouse is stacked with great items. I suggest checking it out if you are looking to work on your row house.

24 March 2009 9:37 AM | Sully Said:

The fountain warehouse on N street is a find. They have a huge selection of stained glass there.

24 March 2009 10:17 AM | WDC Said:

When I replaced my 100-year-old windows (I was sad to do it, but they were SO drafty) the Brass Knob came and took them away. I hated the idea of tossing these beautiful old walnut frames and their wavy glass in a landfill, so I called Brass Knob. I don’t know what they ended up doing with them, and I didn’t ask for any money, but I have warm fuzzy feelings about that place anyway.

24 March 2009 10:33 AM | Bob Said:

Does anyone know if they sell lengths of old moulding, like door and floor mouldings?

24 March 2009 11:00 AM | DG-rad Said:

how does Brass Knob compare, prices-wise, to Community Forklift?

24 March 2009 11:34 AM | Anonymous Said:

@WDC

That ‘wavy glass’ is leaded glass. Check back with Brass Knob on how much these items produced in resale. You’ll wish you had kept them. BK is definitely not a charity, but they do go work.

24 March 2009 11:40 AM | Mt P Said:

There’s also a small, separate business inside the Brass Knob warehouse called Magic Lantern that does metal cleaning and polishing. I’ve taken a bunch of brass and steel hinges and door knobs there to be cleaned and they come out looking great. The hours can be a little erratic so best to call beforehand.

24 March 2009 12:14 PM | WDC Said:

Oh yeah, I knew there was some money there. But I didn’t have the time, energy or market positioning to make it myself. I only called BK the morning of the replacement job, so clearly, I wasn’t going to out a lot of effort into it.

I consider them to be providing a bit of a service, in their for-profitness. It makes me happy to see things re-used, re-purposed, etc. If it makes money for a locally-owned business, I’m even happier.

24 March 2009 12:17 PM | eric in ledroit Said:

brass knob is UBER expensive compared to community forklift.

http://www.communityforklift.com/

PoP you should really check the forklift out – it’s unbelievable. It’s like Brass Knob run by a nonprofit in a warehouse about 10x bigger.

24 March 2009 12:35 PM | SM Said:

I”ve used Brass Knob before to buy some tiles to fix damage done by a plumbing repair in my old place. BK had the identical tiles that were in my 1920s-era bathroom, but each individual tile was $10! I only needed 5 but they would only sell them in sets of 10 – for $100. It’s not like they came in sets, they were just in piles taped together with masking tape sitting in a damp box, and covered in mildew, too. They were total jerks about it. I paid $100 for 10 tiles and left the 5 I didn’t need sitting on the counter because I didn’t see why they should be wasted. I can’t understand why a SALVAGE place would make people buy stuff they don’t need, so the extra stuff can be wasted.

Needless to say Community Forklift is probably the best place to check first, and then head to the Brass Knob only if you absolutley have to.

24 March 2009 12:43 PM | Herb Said:

I love this plae…I can spend hours wandering around looking at the old doors, windows, radiators, etc.

24 March 2009 1:01 PM | ShermanCircle Said:

I went there to get a new closet door to match the ones that were original in our house. I brought a tracing of the door and a photo. The BK guy looks at it, and says “hmmm, 1920s, upper Petworth rowhouse? Yep. We got those.” I found exactly what I was looking for, down to the left-right being correct. Awesome.

24 March 2009 1:28 PM | Neener Said:

Bob, you should NOT buy original molding as it is probably 90% or higher likely covered with poisonous lead paint. I tried for a LONG time to rescue my molding before I acknowledged that it was unsalvageable.

24 March 2009 1:52 PM | Mt P Said:

To the question about molding, or other wood covered in old, potentially lead-based paint, if you can remove it from its location you can have it dipped to completely remove the old paint or finish and taken down to bare wood. Stripping Workshop on New York Avenue NE does this for doors, wood trim, furniture, mantles and certain metal items like radiators.

24 March 2009 2:22 PM | Formica Jones Said:

Why go through all that trouble when buying new is probably cheaper? No wonder you people complain about $15-25 hamburgers.

24 March 2009 4:03 PM | IMGoph Said:

please don’t feed the troll, people.