Hardware Restoration in the Bronx

Metal Man Restoration restores antique and architectural hardware for the Bronx’s prewar co-ops, Art Deco apartment houses, row houses, and residences. We clean, polish, repair, re-plate, and refinish door and cabinet hardware, and we can fabricate missing pieces to match. Original hardware is part of a building’s character, and it is almost always worth saving.

Bronx Hardware We Restore

• Door knobs, plates, and escutcheons in brass, bronze, and nickel
• Mortise locks and original door furniture from prewar apartment houses
• Lobby and entry hardware including push plates, pulls, and kick plates
• Window and casement hardware on steel and wood sash
• Cabinet and built-in hardware in period apartments and homes

What Hardware Restoration Involves

Pieces are removed, tagged, and stripped of paint and old lacquer. We repair damage, free up mechanisms that have seized, then polish or re-plate to the finish you want and seal it. Missing pieces are fabricated or matched from stock so a set reads as one. Everything comes back keyed and organized for reinstallation.

Why Restore Hardware Instead of Replacing It?

Prewar hardware was cast and machined to a standard that modern replacements rarely match, and in a Bronx apartment house the sizes often do not correspond to anything sold today. Replacing means modifying doors. Restoring keeps the original fit, the original detail, and the building’s character intact, usually for less than comparable new hardware costs.

Metal Man’s Bronx Experience

We are the shop the New York Yankees and Skanska called to restore the Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig plaques displayed at Babe Ruth Plaza and the Bronx County Courthouse, and our client list includes the Bronx Zoo. The same bench work behind that project handles hardware. Our Mount Vernon shop is just north of the borough line, which keeps collection and return simple. We also restore architectural metal across the Bronx.

Neighborhoods We Serve Across the Bronx

Along the Grand Concourse it is lobby and apartment door hardware in Art Deco buildings. In Mott Haven and Longwood it is original door furniture in nineteenth-century row houses. In Riverdale and Fieldston it is residential hardware, often on houses inside a designated historic district. See the hardware restoration overview for the full process.

Common Questions About Hardware Restoration in the Bronx

These are the questions Bronx owners, boards, and contractors ask most.

Can you restore hardware that has been painted over?

Yes, and it is the most common condition we see. Decades of paint in a prewar building hide solid brass and bronze underneath. Stripping is the first step, and what turns up is often far better than the owner expected.

Can you match hardware if some pieces are missing?

Yes. We fabricate replacements to match the originals or source period-appropriate pieces, then finish everything together so the set matches rather than reading as a repair.

Do you re-plate as well as polish?

Yes. Worn nickel, chrome, brass, copper, and silver finishes can be re-plated in our shop. If the original plating is gone, re-plating restores the intended finish rather than leaving bare base metal.

Is hardware restoration done in your shop?

Yes. Stripping, plating, and polishing need shop conditions and proper containment. Pieces are collected, restored in Mount Vernon, and returned organized for reinstallation.

Is restored hardware acceptable in a landmark building?

Restoring original hardware is generally the preferred approach in a designated building, because it keeps historic fabric in place. Where a designated interior is involved, we help confirm what the Landmarks Preservation Commission requires before work begins.

For Manhattan buildings, see hardware restoration in Manhattan.

Restore Your Bronx Hardware

If your Bronx building has original hardware buried under paint or worn past its finish, fill out the form below or call (914) 662-4218.

Projects Like This

Real projects from our own shop and job sites. Every one of these is work we did ourselves.

Yankee Stadium Plaques In April 2008, the New York Yankees and Skanska Construction Corporation hired Metal Man Restoration to restore two... View the project Newark City Hall In April 2006, Metal Man Restoration was hired to restore the exterior bronze lighting fixtures and window hardware... View the project Greek Orthodox Cathedral of St Paul Hempstead NY In March 2015, Metal Man Restoration was hired to restore the three front entranceways and light fixtures at the Greek... View the project

★★★★★

Great job by Metal Man Restoration. Anthony along with his team helped me to restore an antique wall unit. He was able to copper plate all of the hardware and also advised me on the type of sheen and finish. Extremely satisfied with his work and would definitely recommend his services to my friends...

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