Pre-war stained doors and base moldings

One thing I have seen in pre-WW1 construction: Doors, baseboards, and trim (and some wall paneling) were made of cheaper woods, and faux-grained to look like better woods (back when materials were expensive and labor was cheap). Changes in taste away from the Victorian preference for darker wood, and the increased expense of high-end woods (mahogany started becoming scarce) marked the move to painted finishes throughout. (think of the difference between Victorian and Edwardian decor in England, for example).

Thank you Aaron. Would you say painted is the standard now for high end pre-war apartments?

https://www.amazon.com/Manhattan-Classic-Finest-Prewar-Apartments/dp/161689167X

Penthouse at the Clarendon: https://streeteasy.com/building/the-clarendon/3b?context%5Bcontroller%5D=%23%3CBuildingController%3A0x00005644fecfda48%3E&context%5Bcurrent_user%5D=1018020&hide_if_empty=true&section=sales

3-BR Astor Court: https://streeteasy.com/building/astor-court/6b?card=1

Two-bedroom Sherry-Netherland: https://streeteasy.com/building/sherry-netherland/1901

3-BR 778 Park: https://streeteasy.com/building/778-park-avenue-new_york/2

Sponsor 4-BR at 555 WEA: https://streeteasy.com/building/555-west-end-avenue-new_york/sale/1377776?context%5Bcontroller%5D=%23%3CBuildingController%3A0x0000555bda5e9760%3E&context%5Bcurrent_user%5D=1018020&hide_if_empty=true&section=sales

Thank you very much Ali. I will look through these links.

And I ordered the book.

A lot of the Ajello designed buildings (885 and 895 West End Ave in particular) used decorative hardwoods for doors, mouldings, etc.
When we did 3B in 885 WEA we spent about 4 or 5 months stripping, repairing, staining doors and mouldings and even had a custom knife made to reproduce the door surround for a doorway we added.

Sounds like an amazing restoration project. If the originals moldings and doors were not salvagable, would you have done painted doors and mounding or stained wood?

We probably would have patched and painted the existing.

Thank you.

Thanks for the links Ali. I think the general taste is toward single-color painted finishes (remember when marbleizing was the trend?), though the library / den with stained wood finishes may always be with us (I hope!). And, to buck the trend, I'll offer up:
https://streeteasy.com/building/the-dakota/66
Why would you paint doors and trim like that?
(also think the cloud, linen drape, and faux tufted wallpapers are pretty great, as well)

Aaron, That is very beautiful. I do not think any one will paint the beautiful well preserved wood doors, door trim and moldings in that apartment.

300,
I think you would be shocked at the extent people are painting well preserved wood details in homes throughout this country.

No!!! As an expert wood hobbyist in my teens, facilitated by my parents owning a wood and steel custom fabrication business, I am horrified.

There are a number of "old house" groups on Facebook where there are tons of "before and after" posts with people whitewashing beautiful woodwork.

https://m.facebook.com/groups/195023140518735?view=permalink&id=1906736526014046

What a shame!! I am guessing they wanted to change the layout and remove the fire place. It would have been more expensive to recreate the wood work and light Lu sand and stain the wood to a different color. But it is a $4-5mm house. So cost shouldn’t have been a too big of a factor.

"Reinvented" in a renovation description is always a red flag word.

On painting/repainting: Much depends on the period: Federal and Greek Revival homes had painted trim. Much of that was stripped off when people thought that old houses should look 'rustic' (post WWII), and now are being repainted as part of a restoration. (Or the owners got the failing paint off, then ran out of energy to repaint - been there, done that).

Ali, Thank you for the book recommendation. I received it today. Great book with history and sample floorplan / picture from most famous prewar buildings. Trim in most of them is painted white or off-white. There are indeed a few wood ones but mostly in library and lobby.

Before:
https://streeteasy.com/sale/1173175

After:
https://streeteasy.com/sale/1366133

While both are very nice, I would have preferred first one with contemporary kitchen and bathroom. Some of the history and beautiful door / molding are destroyed in the second one.

There's quite a bit of unpainted wood in the Midwest. People like the low maintenance.