a sweet job, bronze and more bronze

At the end of a recession, when the bank manager wasn't being all that friendly, a sweet project came along that filled my days and financed some ski trips.

The Prince of Wales Hotel was built over 100 years ago. It has seen good days and bad. When global entrepreneur Si Wan Lai came to Niagara-on-the-Lake, the town changed. The hotel was to go from a near-relic to a rare 5 star hotel, all in less than a year. It was amazing to be part of that change.

Working with Artcast Inc,, we made drawings of one element, a sign featuring lettering and a bas relief logo. The project grew from there to take up most of 5 months of focused work, to include room numbers, room signs, a big sign over the main desk, and a number of pairs of split logos that formed door pulls, inside and out. 

This is the main entrance to the Prince of Wales in Niagara on the Lake. These custom door pulls are about 15" high. There are at least 8 pairs of these in the hotel.

Much of the signage was straightforward bronze plaque making, with that Prince of Wales logo added to most surfaces.

The door pulls, though, were a serious challenge. I had to cast separate custom stand-offs that would allow these to be mounted precisely back-to-back. The mounting had to be fairly invisible, and really strong. These huge doors were solid mahogany and custom bevelled glass.

I spent many days in Niagara with the manager of Artcast, Marcus Knoespel, installing everything. I had taken two long days in my studio practising the door pull mounting, as there was no room for mistakes here.

Artcast did a great job of highlighting the detail on these castings. They were all lost wax cast, so the work was impeccable. Over a decade later, I notice that the front door pull has been scrubbed clean by some enthusiastic employee, destroying that patina. For a night's room and board there, for my wife and me, I'd volunteer to restore that look :)

The front desk at Prince of Wales Hotel. Note the fine hand-applied detail in the ceiling.

When we arrived to install the bronze elements, there were around 250 hand-picked craftsmen working inside, feverishly trying to meet deadlines. There were plasterers applying tiny roses to the ceiling. There were painters with tiny brushes adding colour to those details. There were blacksmiths installing iron grills to the doorways of the dining room, while decorators fought to keep sparks and grit off the acres of custom-woven carpet. 

Somehow the flooring got installed rather early, exposing the huge marquetry areas and the carpets to the tramp of many hurried feet, falling tools and the scrape of ladders. I had to install a heavy bronze sign over the reception desk shown above. The granite desk top had been installed, featuring a gorgeous red figure to the stone. It was covered with a tarp, and I did stand on it for some time, struggling to find some mounting place amid the delicate wooden tracery overhead.

It was fun being part of such a to-do, making such over-the-top finery. It's not often you get paid to do your very best work for such an extended period of time.

The Prince of Wales today, much improved from it's darker days. Still, I haven't been inside since the day I finished the installation. It's not really a place for a craftsman, but a regal resting point for those who have paid much more attention to money than I ever did.