When Brad Suster woke one morning earlier this year to find that the antique doorknob fixture had been swiped off the front of his 1887 house in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood, he could hardly believe it.
Although the Chicago developer had seen plenty of architectural elements stolen from the vacant historic buildings he has restored through the years, he was aghast by the nerve of these thieves, who passed through a closed gate and ignored an alarm system to steal the mansion’s original, custom-made brass doorknob and faceplate.
“It just made me sick,” said Suster, who had found the set in a dusty box as he was rummaging in his basement.
The home renovation boom has apparently led to more scavenging of vintage decoration, from fireplace mantels to stained-glass windows to light fixtures. Pilfered pieces are said to be funneled into an architectural salvage black market where they are sold by unscrupulous or unaware local antiques dealers, shipped to out-of-state dealers or unloaded onto innocent flea market and Internet shoppers.
So old-house remodelers take note: If your vintage property sits unprotected and empty–and sometimes, as in Suster’s case, if it is not–the building could be a target for architectural thieves.
“It’s quite sad, really,” said Jonathan Fine, president of Preservation Chicago, a citizens group advocating to preserve the city’s historic architecture. “People go through the effort of trying to restore these houses and many of the 100-year-old details that attracted them end up being stolen.”
Architectural looting is scarcely new. Through the ages, artifacts have gone missing from Greek temples, Mayan pyramids and European castles and cathedrals only to turn up years later far afield in the hands of antiquities dealers or private collectors or museums. It’s also a problem that’s hard to track.
The Chicago Police Department does not distinguish architectural theft from other property crimes and while “it does happen,” police spokesman Sgt. Robert Cargie said, “we don’t have specific statistics on it.” The insurance industry likewise lumps architectural theft claims in with general property thefts, according to Loretta Worters, vice president of communications with the Insurance Information Institute.
Architectural theft victims face the tedious process of filing police reports and insurance claims and then deciding how the missing parts should be replaced–often a lengthy, expensive and long-shot prospect of searching out matches or finding craftsmen skilled enough to fashion replicas. Pieces that are marked or photographed are easier to return if they’re recovered by police, but otherwise architectural thefts are hard to trace and difficult to prosecute, Cargie said.
More than $75,000 in antique woodwork was stolen over eight weeks last fall from a 1930s Ukrainian Village apartment building that Giles Flanagin of Peak Construction in Chicago was converting into condos. Among the pieces were several pairs of fluted wooden pillars designed as room dividers and fireplace surrounds with tile, wooden mantels and mirrors. Flanagin rented two pit-bull guard dogs and installed infra-red cameras after the thefts, but the damage was done.
“We sold these units based on the fact we had these exquisite vintage pieces, and then they’re gone,” Flanagin said. “It was quite a blow. As if construction isn’t stressful enough.”
His insurer is working to reimburse the cost of having nearly identical replacements made, and luckily, Flanagin said, owners of the sold units were understanding.
“The lesson learned is that if we ever do this again, we’re going to pull everything out and store it off site,” Flanagin said.
Homeowners can deter burglars by installing lights, locks and security systems–the same common-sense security measures that are used for any building under construction. Suster, a founding member of Preservation Chicago, has had so many vintage details stolen from his construction sites that he now hires night watchmen, and if a piece is unusual, he will consider removing it for safekeeping until the project is completed.
The biggest salvage dealers say they do their best to deter the sale of stolen architectural details by buying pieces directly from building owners, from contractors who prove they have permission to rescue ornament from demolition sites or from other reputable dealers.
Salvage One, the city’s oldest salvage retailer, requires sellers to hand over a driver’s license or other photo ID for photocopying, said general manager Steve Hruskocy. If an item turns out to be stolen, the seller can be tracked, he said. “We’ve had the policy for 10 or 15 years, and there hasn’t been a problem since I’ve been here,” said Hruskocy, who has worked six years for the retailer. “People know not to bring stolen items here.”
Stuart Grannen, owner of Architectural Artifacts in Chicago and a salvage antiques dealer for 40 years, said he was stung when his business was young after he purchased an item that turned out to be stolen. Since then he works only with reputable European and American dealers and focuses on buying large estates of high-end furnishings, he said.
“We’ve got a reputation across the country for buying only the best,” Grannen said. “It’s a lot easier to sleep at night when you do it right.”
In some cases, preservationists are working to minimize theft. In the United Kingdom, where ornament theft has long been an issue, a theft-alert network sends e-mails listing dates, locations, descriptions and photos of stolen items to police and hundreds of local and overseas antiques dealers.
When a suburban Philadelphia hot line run by retired police officers to solve murders and assaults began accepting architectural theft tips a few years ago, what had been described as rampant theft in a gentrifying neighborhood reportedly evaporated.
In Chicago, the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy in Chicago has an informal arrangement with big auction houses including Sotheby’s and Christie’s in New York to vet Wright ornaments up for auction to ensure the piece was legitimately obtained, said conservancy executive director Ron Scherubel.
But he said out-and-out architectural theft from Wright houses is rare nowadays because the buildings are occupied and in good shape. More commonly, Wright homeowners, recognizing the skyrocketing value of Wright-designed ornament, have removed art-glass windows or other artifacts from their home, sold them and commissioned artisans to make replicas, Scherubel said.
“We discourage people by telling them that, from a historic perspective, the house is more valuable and more important as a whole,” he said, noting the same is true for any historic house.
In his 10 years in the restoration business, Chicago developer Suster has seen ornate window frames removed, pocket doors torn from walls and a marble sink ripped from a vacant Victorian. Once he drove by one of his two-flat rentals and saw a gaping hole in the building’s facade where the refinished front foyer piece–an elaborate built-in wooden structure of doors and pier mirrors–used to be.
Meanwhile, Suster says he’ll keep an eye out for a replacement for his missing doorknob but said he is not optimistic he will ever find a match.
“There is really nothing I can do about it,” said Suster.
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Protect your house from theft
The following are tips to protect your old house from ornament scavengers:
– Meet your neighbors. “Go next door and introduce yourself after the sale,” said Chicago Police Sgt. Robert Cargie. “Neighbors will pick up the phone and call police if they see something wrong.”
– Change locks. You should also install double locks and make sure doors and windows are kept secured, Cargie said.
– Cover windows, adds Stuart Grannen of Architectural Artifacts. “Don’t let them get a look inside,” Grannen said. “Thieves won’t break into a house if they can’t see in.”
– Install other security measures. Those can include motion-detecting lights, an alarm system and even fencing across entry points such as driveways and walkways, said Jim Magliaro, appraisal training manager with Chubb Group of Insurance Companies, one of the nation’s top insurers of historic homes. If the house is unoccupied, leave lights on at night “to give the appearance someone is living there, he said.
– Secure valuable pieces. During construction, the items can be kept together in one locked room or in an on-site trailer, Magliaro said.
– Tag your property. Grannen recommended using a liquid invisible-ink pen to mark fireplace mantles or other ornament that might tempt thieves. “If something is found, you can prove it is yours,” he said. Photo documentation also helps.
– Know your contractors and make regular site visits during construction. “It’s important to have a good relationship with your contractor,” Magliaro said. “If it turns out there are missing items, you can work together to address the issue.”
— Laurie Grano
