Page 111 - One Thousand Ways to Make $1000

TheVogueforWroughtIron HouseNumbers

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HEN the depression took away his office job, Leander Hvale of Deerfield,
Illinois, turned to his hobby, the making of hand-wrought knickknacks for
homes. Word-of-mouth advertising along the fashionable North Shore section
has brought Mr. Hvale many orders for handmade iron home-markers
(swinging signs at the gate or on posts near the entrance), wall plaques,
weather vanes and other handicraft. His son, a Chicago Art Institute graduate,
makes the designs. One home-marker, which he worked out for a dog shelter
(an enterprise of one of Chicago’s society leaders), shows a little dog up on
his hind legs, begging. Two other little dogs are sympathetically listening.
Another design was a lovely madonna for the wall of an outdoor living-room
of a North Shore estate.

The home-marker had its origin in the Middle Ages before the invention of
house numbers. In order to identify one’s home it was customary to use some
sort of distinctive sign. Thus people came to speak of Mr. So-and-So who
lived at the sign of the “Green Rooster” or the “Yellow Lantern.” Among the
nobility the crests from the family coat-of-arms were used as home-markers.
Fighting cocks, spread eagles and unicorns were popular. The modern vogue
of naming homes has brought with it the demand for markers to symbolize
hospitality and good-fellowship.

Mr. Hvale realized that he would have to let people know what he could do
with wrought iron if he were to have any kind of success. So, although he had
no money to spare, he planned to have an exhibit at the Garden Club flower
show held at Chicago’s Navy Pier. The money for the display space was
earned by doing odd chores and shoveling peat for a month for the club. The
display did bring his work to the attention of those who appreciate the beauty
of wrought iron and created no little business.

There are any number of things to be made of wrought iron and those who
have a hankering for this type of work will find innumerable designs in books
on the subject. The wrought iron gates and balconies of New Orleans, made