The John Wright Company: Home Hardware Generations in the Making

If the manufacturer is nearly 130 years old, should their products still be called antique reproductions? Founded in 1880 as the Wrightsville Hardware Company, the John Wright Company is America’s oldest continuously operating manufacturer of cast iron products. Interior and exterior cast iron reproduction door and window hardware, cabinet hinges and knobs, shutter hardware, garage door hardware, and a large assortment of specialty items. Many products are cast from their own foundry and then meticulously crafted to meet the high standards that have been established over four generations of this family owned business. Below are a couple of feature products of the John Wright Company.

Today’s mass produced shelf brackets typically feature a plain and highly utilitarian appearance. While this maybe fine if your shelves are to hang in your garage, their appearance makes them a poor design choice for hanging shelves in the living spaces of your home. John Wright’s selection of cast iron shelf brackets offers a decorative and very sturdy alternative.

From its founding through the Victorian era, America embraced the design trends coming out of Europe. From fashionable dress to door hardware, designs during these times were ornate with apparent equal attention to form and function. This balance of form and function can be seen in the decorative garland motif of John Wright’s reproduction European mail slot.