By Amy O’Hair
All things Fazekas are found linked on this page.
Here I present some recent sightings and readers’ contributions to the Fazekas story. The original post about Anton Fazekas’ American Art Metal Works in San Francisco was a covid-era smash hit on this otherwise low-traffic website, and continues to attract a robust viewing, as people discover they have on their house a bit of artistic flare from the mind of a midcentury sculptor.
From Canada, With Love
First, a “most prized possession” from Murray in Canada, which has an amazing story to go with it. In Murray’s own words:
“I was visiting San Francisco, maybe 30 years ago. While wandering around I noticed the illuminated number signs on all of the houses. I fell in love with them and wanted one desperately. On a drive somewhere far south of San Francisco, I spotted a flea market. I couldn’t believe my luck. I found one of the number signs, identical to the ones in San Francisco! I brought it home and wired it up for a light. What makes this story even more amazing, my home address number was 30. The number with this sign was 30, along with several of the blank enamel slide-in spacers. It illuminated my address number for years.
“Fast forward, 25 years later, I moved and I look the number sign with me. The house number of my new home was 303. I had someone paint the number 3 on one of the spacers. It’s been illuminated ever since. It’s one of my favourite possessions.”
To think, a Fazekas unit two thousand miles away on an Ontario house.
Mystery Mail
I am not a great collector of objects, but my devoted spouse gives me unusual Fazekas items from time to time, and this rare find was a holiday gift:
It is the mail unit for, possibly, a multi-unit building; the style mirrors the Deco house number units, with the use of triangle motifs.
The top flap allows the postal carrier to put in the mail (nothing too large, mind) and the locked door below with ventilation openings (so you can see if you’ve got mail) allows the resident to retrieve it. Details include a slot to insert a card with a name and apartment number, little air circulation holes, and a rondel at the bottom with “US” on it—there may have been a doorbell option for this opening, as we’ll see later.
Inside the top flap is a strip with AMER ART METAL WKS SF stamped on it. The little lock on the bottom door is by the Yale Company, and “Made in USA”.
I have only spotted anything remotely like this on an actual building a couple of times. These twin units in the Mission are very similar, but there is a little hood over the top mail flap. They have a doorbell inserted into the bottom opening, instead of the “US” plug above, and which have probably been replaced with more modern buttons sometime after installation. One is missing its lower door. Instead of pulling the mail flap open, the postal carrier would push the mail in through the flap, which opens at the bottom instead of top, making the addition of a hood possible.
The only other item I’ve seen in situ is this very battered unit, which clearly bears the hood and numbers that mark it out as Fazekas’s work, but it seems to have lost other features, or was exceedingly plain to begin with. The mail slot has been covered over, and the lower door looks like it’s been decades since it opened.
Notable is the combination of mail unit with house numbers. Anton Fazekas could be a Swiss-army-knife kind of designer. He loved variations on a theme or style or idea, and the mail unit looks like no exception.
As well, this solves the mystery of another object I was given earlier, which appears to be the frame for a mail unit, but with the Classic styling—hexagonal bosses and dimpled surfaces.
On the back side it has all the things ready to mount a top flat on a spring, and a bottom door with a lock—but none of the holes have been drilled through, so I conclude this was a factory demo that never got very far. There is some awkward welding on the back, too. At the bottom there is a strip with the firm’s name.
The metal on this one is far heavier than the complete unit above. The metallurgy of Fazekas’s work I’ve yet to pin down.
Don’t Bin It, Brighten It
More from readers. Josh in Bernal Heights sent in this photo of his rehabilitated unit—although I have been unable to establish that American Art Metal Works made this particular model, I think it is likely. (If you take your unit off the wall, and want to make sure, look for the American Art Metal Works stamp on the back.)
He and his wife had intended to just replace the unit, but discovered it was wired for a lightbulb. Her curiosity to find out more revealed the Fazekas story, and they ended up keeping the unit on the house.
“Thank you so much for all your amazing articles. My wife and I took our numbers down to replace them with no idea there was a light bulb in it! And no idea about the history. She found your articles and restored it and we couldn’t be happier. Didn’t see any on your site with our shape so sharing with you!”
Peekaboo from the Sunset
Loretta in the Sunset sent in photos of her lovely American Art Metal Works speakeasy, front and back, which she confirms sports the “American Art Metal Works” stamp inside.
Also she sent a photo of her rare house number unit. This type is back-lit with the same little bulb. They’ve been in the house 45 years, and she says that that bulb has never been replaced, and still shines with a subtle incandescent glow.
Electric Company Calling
Here is a really novel bit of work by Anton Fazekas, a doorbell plate with a vivacious look, different from anything I’ve seen in his repertoire. I might call it the Midcentury All-Electric Home look, with its zigzag rays, but the site calls it Spanish Revival. For sale for a hefty price.
These doorbell plates below are multi-unit affairs, and I’d call the style more Spanish Revival than the previous one. Also from EarlyCal.com. All with the big finger-inviting Bakelite buttons. Again, an entirely unique find, and for a price. I love thinking that I could go on discovering new works by Fazekas for a long time to come.
Here are some light-switch plates from the same antique website, complete with some packaging. The design is a kind of foliage fitted into a diagonal lattice, subtle and nicely flat, as a plate for light switches doesn’t invite the sort of deep sculptural effect Fazekas used on his doorbell plates—something you might not want to put your hand on in the dark.
Last Bits and Sightings
This classic unit on Bryant is nicely set off by an accompanying witch on a broomstick. Top marks.
Finally a few random sightings. A classic Fazekas model in very good form, with a new bulb.
A double set of units also in the Mission with perhaps original bulbs.
I like this color choice, pink and silver, which hits the right Art Deco vibe, although points off for the slightly less than successful rehab on the number tiles.
Keep sending me photos. The whole picture of Anton Fazekas’s work, and the pleasures afforded to those who appreciate it, has yet to be revealed.
All photographs by Amy O’Hair unless otherwise noted.
All things Fazekas are found linked on this page.
