Don't let your renovation project be held up by inadequate corbels.
The beauty of most Victorian houses is in the details and few Victorian details are as recognizable as the corbel. Whether decorative or structural, supporting a mantle or just supporting your design scheme, Blue Ox Millworks is ready to help. Interior, exterior, wood, or plaster, our expert craftsmen are willing to build whatever you need with a gentle touch, a patient chisel, and whatever wood you specify.
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The meeting of form and function.
Tastefully placed throughout Victorian architecture, corbels are used as decorative brackets or braces, usually for supporting (or appearing to support) an arch, beam or shelf. They can be used anywhere a bracket can be used. Corbels can be plain or hand-carved with an enormous amount of detail. Sizes can vary considerably, often pertaining to their particular use.
(Above): Cesar poses with two custom corbels for a job on Portero Hill, San Francisco. (At left): Blue Ox wooden corbels adorn the rooftops of a home at G Street in Eureka. |
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Because of their extra thickness, they are often used in applications requiring strength, such as in supporting a mantel shelf. They may also be placed in the corners of an entrance opening or at the tops of windows to create a distinguished, elegant look.
(At right): Blue Ox collaborated with wood-carver Nate Stipek to construct these maple hand-carved interior corbels and custom scrollwork for a fireplace and mantle assembly. For more pictures and information about this fireplace, click here. |
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Inside the home, they may be placed in the corners of cased door openings to add a subtle touch of charm. The placement of ornaments served structural purposes. Corbels, pinnacles topped with finials, flying buttresses, key stones and boss stones in arches, all provided extra weight at critical points to balance the structure against earth and wind movement.
(At left): Three unpainted Blue Ox exterior corbels with fluting and rosettes. |
Whether you are looking to completely renovate an entire building, or just looking for an extra-special touch to finish off a room, mantle, or shelf unit, the master craftsmen at Blue Ox are more than happy to help.
(At right): Four matching wooden corbels stand guard above the entryway of the Simpson Vance House. |
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Eric Talks about Corbels...
The word Corbel derives its name from the Latin Corvus, meaning crow. This can probably be attributed to the corbel’s distinctive shape, which is often narrow at the bottom and expands to form a beak at the top. The first corbels were actually the decorative ends of wooden roof support beams.
(At left): The renovation of the commercial building at 2nd and D Street in Eureka called for a lot of custom corbels. |
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Like most elements of architecture, the corbel was born out of necessity. Picture the four walls of a building. Once erected, you need to put a roof on the structure. The easiest way to do that is to lay heavy timbers spanning the top of the walls and construct a gable roof off of these timbers.
(At right): Some rather unique corbels adorn the corners of this private residence in Eureka, California. |
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Photo by Alan Griffiths |
It’s easy to give the sloping walls of the roof an overhang but how could early architects give the gable an overhang to shed water? The answer was to extend the beams beyond the plane of the wall and build the gable off of this new plane, giving an overhang for water to drip from, rather than letting it run down the walls.
(At left): Wonders abound in the Blue Ox plaster shop, including one very lovely feminine corbel. |
These exposed beam ends posed their own water problem until craftsmen thought to put a decorative end on them. Water could drip off, and they were pleasing to the eye. Thus, the corbel was born.
(At right): Two custom Blue Ox wood corbels stand watch on the deck of the historic Ships Inn. |
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The most common design of these early corbels was the Roman Ogee. This shape provides a graceful transition from the vertical to the horizontal plane. It was soon discovered (probably by the Greeks) that corbels did not need to be structural but also had a visually pleasing function.
(At left: An unfinished wooden corbel for a house on Waller Street in San Francisco.
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This was fairly unimportant for the Doric order, whose changes were gradual and could be transitioned with mouldings, but was extremely useful for the more radical transitions in the Ionic and Corintian orders. This visual element is how most corbels are used today.
(At right): Two wooden corbels with cleverly concealed extensions for a house on Simpson Street in Eureka. | |
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Corbels in the Victorian Era...
With the advent of the Victorian era, corbels really began to come into their own. Designers and craftsmen tried an almost infinite number of shapes and decorative add-ons.
(At left): A custom redwood corbel manufactured for the Wheeler Mansion in Chicago. The Wheeler mansion was built in 1870 and was one of the few homes to survive the great Chicago fire of 1871. The home was modernized in the 1960s and all decorative elements were removed. This Corbel was reproduced from an old black and white photograph. |
Most of these styles were very pleasing to the eye and fit wonderfully into the design of the house. Occasionally, however, a designer ran into trouble by deviating too far from the golden proportions and the result was often mud-fence-ugly.
(At right): Custom corbels for the Bell Cottage, one of the world renowned Carter House Inns. |
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The Golden Proportion...
So what is this golden proportion? You might say that it was the original Grecian formula! The mathematically-minded ancient Greeks decreed that everything in nature could be described in proportions of 1 to 1.6. The proportions of a tree are 1.6 tall to 1 wide. Your outstretched arms are 1 to your 1.6 in height.
(At left): Another Ship's Inn corbel, a little taller and thinner than the first. This one doesn't stick to the golden proportions, but then again--mariners are always the rebellious ones! This corbel was one of several Blue Ox projects features in recent editions of Victorian Homes Magazine. |
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These proportions are pleasing to the eye because we grow up with them. We see them everywhere, including many of the most visually pleasing corbel designs. Have your corbel go 1.6 tall and come out from the wall 1 or for large overhangs have it go out 1.6 and down 1. You’ll never go wrong.
~Eric Hollenbeck
(At right): These four dainty siblings adorn the corners of the Carter Cottage. Eric designed and built these brackets in 1998 for the cottage's renovation. |
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Today Blue Ox are manufacturers of a wide variety of corbels of all shapes and sizes. Whether your corbels follow the golden proportions or dare to tread on uncharted ground, the craftsmen at Blue Ox will be right by your side with a patient chisel, an understanding smile, and over three decades of experience. Call today, or send us an email at info@blueoxmill.com.
(At left): Two corbels at the delightfully numeric address of 1234 C Street.
“Beauty in our lives is like a winter coat, it’s not necessary but it sure makes the north wind a lot easer to bear” - Eric Hollenbeck, 1996 |
