Call them architectural antiques, architectural salvage, urban architecture, deconstructed materials or irreplaceable artifacts - it makes no difference, as they all refer to elements of structure and fabric that were once permanent fixtures on or in buildings. They can include everything from a simple Victorian doorknob to 16th century hand hewn beams recovered from a barn or an impressive 12 ft high stone chimneypiece that once graced a chateau in the Loire Valley.

Where do we source?
Uniquities sources its architectural antiques and salvage primarily in the UK. We have acquired salvage from many types of buildings including mills, schools, hospitals, factories, farm buildings, churches, manor homes, Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian houses. The decline of the manufacturing industry, the nationwide trend of revitalizing the inner cities and the migration of business into newer industrial areas creates an opportunity for dealers to acquire wonderful reusable materials. The UK salvages 3 million tonnes of building material a year. Consequently, we have the sources and experience to provide quality salvaged building materials.

What we offer

• Architectural Antiques: fireplaces, urns, benches, gates, railings, balusters, statuary, chimney pots, sinks, troughs, garden furniture, etc
• Bricks: pre Industrial Revolution hand thrown to early 20th century machine made. From creamy beige, to Staffordshire blue to Suffolk red.
• Roofing Tiles: Welsh slate tiles, Cotswold Stone, Westmorland, Rosemary’s
• Reclaimed wood: paneling, flooring, baseboards, trusses, beams, bressumers, planks
• Building Stone: Coping stone, lintels, flagstone, cobble setts, kerbs
• Flooring: Quarry tiles, encaustic floors, marble, limestone, slate and terrazzo
• Decorative stone: windows, columns, doorways, bridges, walls, capitals, coping stone
• Buildings: Barns, granaries, cart sheds, summerhouses, gatehouses, period houses

The costs and benefits of using salvaged materials

Salvaged building materials are comparable in price to quality new materials. With our many sources we are able to negotiate the best price, organize shipping at reasonable cost in one of our containers, facilitate the transport of the materials in a safe manner and deal with export and import issues. We oversee all aspects from ordering to delivery and take our role as suppliers of quality reclaimed materials very seriously.

There are many benefits to using salvaged material. Reusing original building elements diverts waste from landfills, saves energy and manufacturing costs, and preserves valuable mineral and forestry resources. Repurposing material is really the most environmentally friendly way to build.

Building with salvage also helps to preserve architectural history. When a panel door or a length of hand carved cornice is thrown into the landfill it is gone forever. The superior craftsmanship, authentic period detail and beautiful patina of old materials simply cannot be reproduced.

The Three R’s

Reclaim: Reclaimed materials may be resized, retrofitted or refinished but they are reused in their original form. An example would be antique bricks that were salvaged from an old factory building and cleaned of mortar.

Recycle: Those same bricks would be crushed down and reprocessed as recycled matter and used as aggregate.

Repurpose: Originally the aforementioned bricks were the structural material for the factory building. Their reclaimed use could be as a feature wall in a newly built kitchen.

Little known fact: The UK manufactures 3 billion bricks a year and destroys about the same amount. The salvage industry is only able to save 150 million. Ten years ago 700,000 tonnes of wood was saved and bought up by salvage yards. Today only 200,000 tonnes are saved. Government recycling incentives make it more attractive to crush, mulch and scrap materials rather than reclaiming them. These materials are highly sought after by the reclamation trade.

The embodied energy of the reclaimable materials now being “recycled”, i.e. crushed, mulched, scrapped and composted is enough to power 10 million UK homes a year. It would be better by far to repurpose salvaged materials whenever possible in renovation projects and new builds.

By bringing awareness to consumers, the architectural antique industry hopes to encourage people to use salvage thereby maintaining demand and keeping valuable material out of landfills.

History

The idea of using salvaged building materials is nothing new; it can be traced back thousands of years. The Arch of Constantine, which was built in 315 A.D., was built with pieces taken from the 1st century, Arch of Trajan.

Salvaged marble and travertine from the Roman Coliseum was used to build part of St. Peter’s Basilica.

Norman stone masons used Roman bricks and stone to complete their churches and castles.

During the 18th Century young aristocratic Englishmen travelled to the ancient cities of Europe. Known as the “Grand Tour”, its purpose was to teach young men about art and history. Enamoured with what they saw, they brought back statues, columns, frescos, and stone as souvenirs to incorporate into their own homes. Perhaps the most famous of these travellers was the 7th Earl of Elgin who helped himself to some pretty important Marbles from the Parthenon.

It was post 2nd World War rebuilding and the inner city “regeneration programme” of the 1950s that truly brought about the emergence of the architectural antiques trade. Grand country houses had been requisitioned by the government to be used as hospitals and barracks. After the war, these homes were returned to their owners in need of pricey repairs. Unable to afford the renovations, they sold off the fireplaces, paneling, stone, etc and the homes were demolished. The regeneration programmes of the 1950s brought about the demolition of thousands of Georgian and Victorian houses. Antique dealers saw opportunity to save important historical pieces and opened up warehouses to stock their “treasure”.

By the 1980s the salvage trade in the UK was thriving with hundreds of dealers’ country wide. Today, in Britain alone, it is worth a staggering 2 billion dollars a year.