Cupboard

Description

Built-in cupboard from ironing room next to machine shop, Church Family, Hancock, MA. Built entirely of white pine; the original tongue and groove back boards were destroyed when cupboard was removed. Current back and back board of proper left end are replacements, from Sabbathday Lake, ME. The cupboard has three doors. The two on the proper right are paired, opening apart. The proper left door is hinged at the cupboard end side. Doors are four-panel with the rails and stiles through mortised and tenoned at the corners; center stiles are mortised and tenoned blind and are unpinned. Doors hinged with commercial iron butt hinges. Panels are flat. Cupboard has a vertical portion separating the space exposed by the paired doors from that behind the single door. The single door has a surface mounted lock with key and a surface mounted brass latch and strike. The inactive door of the pair has an elbow catch that looks over a brass plate in the front of the top shelf. The active door latches with a functional surface mounted brass latch and strike and has a porcelain knob. The unit has three shelves, no bottom, a top that has been modified for unknown reasons, and a cornice molding across the front and along the proper right (exposed) end. The inside edges of the face frame rails and stiles are beaded. The cupboard is stained yellow inside and out.

Notes

Blog post on this object: https://shakerml.wordpress.com/2017/10/04/reconstructing-the-history-of-a-cupboard/ The cupboard was removed from the Ironing Room in the Laundry and Machine Shop at the Church Family, Hancock, MA. It was originally built into a different building. The cupboard can be seen in this 1931 photograph taken for the Historic American Buildings Survey by William Winter: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/hhh.ma0108.photos.077458p/?co=hh