Shiny brass (Condition Report)

IN HONOR OF the High Holy Days, most of the brass fixtures in the sanctuary have now been professionally polished. This includes the door pulls and push plates between the lobby and the sanctuary, and on restroom doors. The difference will be immediately evident when you walk in.

And in a nod to the value of preventive maintenance, a protective clear coat has been added to those items, so as to preserve their shine.

Some other brass fixtures in the sanctuary, such as the banisters leading to the bimah, were manually polished. They will continue to need repolishing each year (but see below).

NOMENCLATURE:   The Historic Structure Report (2003), in its cataloging of our sanctuary building’s architectural features, most often employs the term copper alloy rather than “brass.” The more general term is preferred in preservation and museum circles as a matter of accuracy. That is, the term “brass” is seen as possibly misleading because of the widely varying proportions of its ingredients (usually copper and zinc, but sometimes also other elements), which can shade into bronze, which is likewise a copper alloy. But in this blog I will continue to use the more common and informal term.

PRESERVATION TIP:   The salty air in our ocean-adjacent location means that our brass tarnishes relatively quickly. Yet for brass items that are not meant to be touched (such as the chandeliers in the Social Hall), there is a relatively easy hack: After polishing such items, rub them with a cloth that has been sprayed with WD-40. The resulting thin layer of that lubricant will help to protect the brass over time. 

(Indeed, it is said that WD-40 can also be used as brass polish, by spraying it on the metal and letting it sit for 15 minutes or so, and then rubbing it off.)

CONTACT INFO:   The vendor that polished and coated our brass items was: V&M Metal Polishing (Chatsworth), vmmetalpolishing@gmail.com 818-632-0603, "ask for Vidal.”

APPRECIATION:   Thank you to Carole Stein and Ginni Rosenfeld for this round of brass polishing! Long may it shine!

Historically significant features in the Social Hall and main corridor (Background Report)

CHARACTER-DEFINING FEATURES of our historic sanctuary building were identified in the Historic Structure Report (2003; “HSR”). These are the aspects that warrant historic preservation, in the eyes of architectural historians.

Below the jump, this post excerpts from here and there the HSR to describe and list the historically significant features in two spaces that some members are reportedly eyeing for decoration. As named in the HSR, those spaces are known as the corridor (B-01) and the Social Hall (B-02). 

Historically significant features of our main-floor restrooms/lobby (Condition Report)

CHARACTER-DEFINING FEATURES of our historic sanctuary building were identified in the Historic Structure Report (2003; “HSR”). These are the aspects that warrant historic preservation, in the eyes of architectural historians.

Below the jump, this post excerpts from here and there the HSR to describe and list the historically significant features in the four spaces that have been assigned the highest priority for rehabilitation/renovation. As named in the HSR, those spaces are known as the ladies’ lounge, ladies’ restroom, men’s restroom, and the narthex (lobby). 

Architectural Significance of Our Sanctuary’s Front Doors (rev. 5-25-23)

A WELL-KNOWN CHILD’S RIDDLE: “When is a door not a door? When it’s ajar!” The grown-up version of that conundrum might be: When is a door not a door? When it’s an architectural feature! That is, a door can sometimes have a significance far beyond its usual function of admitting and/or excluding people from the building. It can create a look that evokes key symbolic associations.

At the Dedication Ceremony (9/26/1948)
(As usual, click/tap on an image to enlarge it.)

This post documents the architectural significance of our sanctuary’s original front doors — which seems to have gotten waylaid over time.