Ruby’s Gate
I have always liked these garden and farm gates that combine perfectly functional and decorative elements. I grew up with this gate – it was silver and then green, and it kept horses and cows away from the fruit trees and vegetables.
This summer I rescued it from the bushes at my parent’s house and restored it for my back yard. The rust was totally out of control and I took several days brushing and filing before it was ready for painting, but it should be good for several more decades with a bit of paint now and then.
Now it serves as a deterrent to our new 2-year-old neighbour Ruby from taking unsupervised shortcuts to the playground through our yard. Not that she is unwelcome to pass through our property, just that it’s disconcerting to see her toddling by alone.
I see from a quick internet search that I am not the only person with a soft spot for these gates, though I would rather use them than merely “decorate” with them. And I am not so sentimental that it prevents me from straightening out the bottom of the gate where the feet of us kids pushed the wire aside while swinging (when my dad was not looking). I cannot find anyone still making these gates, though there are clear descendents available as wire filled farm gates, they derive their beauty (those that have any) solely from their functional design.
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That is interesting to think about. Gates are something that you pass through and leave behind you, or are thwarted by and go around. Maybe that act relegates them to the past in a same way as a small bridge, culvert or cattleguard passes with only brief notice.
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What interests me most is that, while we are thousands of miles apart, we both share a fondness for similar utilitarian objects that most people who have vintage gates in their life probably give them no thought at all.
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Ha! I’ve been “merely decorating” my whole life so my use of the old gate wasn’t a sidestep. I’m a graphic designer! 🙂 I spend lots of time merely decorating web sites, billboards, pieces of paper, t-shirts and (occasionally) walls.
Your gate is beautiful in its bright blue coat, but mine is too in its rusty nakedness. They are surely made by the same manufacturer. While you can’t see the wires in the photo on my blog (http://www.words4it.com/?p=769), their pattern is exactly like yours. I imagine it was a purchase from the local Sears store in the late 1940s when my parents bought their home in Highland Park, Michigan, USA, but it might have come with the house. My dad was ready to discard it in the late 1970s after decades of service keeping our dogs (and my siblings) in the yard and the neighborhood’s untethered dogs out of it.
My gate is 33″ wide not counting hardware and still graces my balcony. While I view it as “functional” because it feeds my soul, if I had a garden like yours, I’d put it to use as you have done. I enjoyed your comment and am glad you shared your gate with the rest of us.
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Douglas, thanks for your comment. Ironically, I was just changing my text to “only decorate” as I realised an unintended poke in your direction; in fact I did change it a few seconds before I saw your comment. But, I have changed it back to the orignal wording in light of your comment. No offense was intended, and I am glad none was taken.
I bet they are the same manufacturer – the scroll at the top is very similar, though mine is 39″ without hardware. A friend made a catch for me, and it still had the hinges in good working order. This one is in western Canada and there are quite a few similar ones around town still. I rescued another one from my parent’s place in the mid-90’s and had set it aside to use but it disappeared and I had to get this one now that I have a real need for one. The rust on your gate is far more pleasing than the deeply pitted and chunky rust and lifting paint on my one, and I can see the attraction of having it on your balcony just as it is.
I would never have thought to bring one of these gates indoors and hang it on the wall, but that is only because I lack sufficient imagination and design sense. I like the gates well enough to live with one indoors, if I had the right kind of house. Sounds like our respective gates have ended up in their appropriate places.
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