Vault Door Book?

VaultDoors · 2013-11-30T02:53:33+00:00

Does anyone know of a book dedicated to antique vault doors? Preferably a picture book with color close ups of boltwork, schematics, stats, and a location index? I searched the Web but could not find anything. Locations would be helpful so I could visit the sites when traveling. I have the book American Genius by Erroll and Erroll but that is focused on bank locks and time clocks.

wylk

Sometimes I manage to find another Strauss-design vault door, which uses eccentric cams in the boltwork and were manufactured by several different companies (Mosler, Diebold, York) for Emil Strauss. Today I found one in Milwaukee at 735 North Water Street, a former First National Bank constructed 1912-1914. The space is now used as a Private Bank so the door is in excellent condition (some that I have found have been abandoned and are in sad shape). I can’t tell who made this one but if I had to guess I’d say Mosler.

wylk

I noticed something else in the Hilton Garden Inn image of the Hall’s door. First, of course, is the second (smaller) door farther down the hall, with paint in much better condition. But notice there are two doors above as well. This brings to mind the old saying “watch that first step.” I presume that these were on the second floor, which was removed during the hotel conversion to open up the lobby. But it does look peculiar.

wylk

Here’s another interesting one. This looks just like the Chatwood door at the former Midland HSBC bank in London. The image is from a 2008 movie “A Sentimental Capitalism” (“Un capitalisme sentimental”) which was filmed in Montreal.

The usual problem is, where in Montreal? Possibly the former Royal Bank at 360 Saint Jacques Street but I’m only guessing. Are there any forum members in Montreal?

Notice that the bolts are in the locked position. Also, assuming this was manufactured in England, I’d like to see the freight bill for transportation to Montreal.

For comparison, here is the London door:

Dean Nickel

Being that Montreal is a port city a large door like that wouldn’t be a problem getting it across the pond.

Tom Gordon

[SUP]the factory had a railway line directly into the works and easy to have it winched off at any port[/SUP]

Sam Kremer

wylk wrote
OK, here is my “catalog” of vault locations: http://w3.uwyo.edu/_jimkirk/locations.html

Comments/corrections not only welcome, but requested. It may be a little cryptic in places, I didn’t have public consumption in mind when I started. For example when I write “[Mosler xxx]” that refers to an official Mosler history published in 1999.

Hi, I don’t suppose this is still available somewhere online? Thanks. S

[unknown]

wylk

Sam Kremer wrote
Hi, I don’t suppose this is still available somewhere online? Thanks. S

Sadly, the web server w3.uwyo.edu was retired with no replacement. I was disappointed because I was its system administrator for many years. I don’t have any place else to make this available right now; I could try emailing it but it’s currently 174 MB so that’s unlikely. Perhaps I should finally get a dropbox account?

[unknown]

wylk

wylk wrote
Sadly, the web server w3.uwyo.edu was retired with no replacement.

A friend offered some space where I can stash it and make it available. Sam has a copy now. If anybody else is interested in 513 pages of vault doors, drop me a Private Message and I’ll send the URL in a reply.

[unknown]

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