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These photographs of two doors side by side were taken by Cath Harries. The door on the left is red with a gold pattern and red leaves hanging over it. The door on the right is black with white wrought-iron tendrils snaking across it and is bordered by a white frame.

Who Doesn’t Love a Good Door?

Written by Sheldrake Editor on . Posted in News.

If you’re into doors – and who isn’t? – we are publishing a book packed full of them. Grand, stylish or unusual, public or private, religious or commercial, shiny or shabby, Doors of London picks out the best of them. It’s in the bookstores today.

Felicity McCarthy holds up an advance copy of the book ‘Doors of London’ against a backdrop of book-lined shelves and a yellow lampshade.
Felicity McCarthy holds up an advance copy of the book in her library.

‘It brings back memories of a magical autumn I spent 15 years ago in London,’ says Felicity McCarthy who runs an Instagram page from her library in the San Francisco Bay Area. ‘I’ve been looking forward to its arrival since November. It is so fresh, jam-packed with fabulous images of yes, doors, but also door knobs, fanlights, stained glass…’

If you’re into doors, you can’t help noticing them the moment you step out of your front door. We’ve discovered we’re not alone. On Instagram, we’ve met door lovers from all over the world. There’s doors_od – absolutely no overdose! – pastpreservers, littleobservationist, look_uplondon, theoldbuilding, architectanddesign, even thedoorsofldn. We thought all these door lovers were in London, but found they were as far apart as Istanbul and yes, San Francisco.

Doors Are an International Language

Doors can understood by anyone interested in architectural aesthetics. The focal point of any façade, they follow a grammar of ornament that is universal. Their appeal is mesmerizing. With ten centuries of doors in the built environment, London is a particularly rich hunting ground, and our indefatigable door detectives, Cath Harries and Melanie Backe-Hansen, have made the most of it.

15 Years in the Making

In this colour photograph Cath Harries looks at the camera and smiles as she pauses for a photograph while out door hunting, wearing a leather jacket and a dark blue scarf.
Cath Harries, photographer.
In this colour photograph the house historian Melanie Backe-Hansen studies property deeds in a library, wearing a dark blue top.
Melanie Backe-Hansen, house historian.

The photographer Cath Harries was born and brought up in Wales but made her career in London. She started noticing doors 15 years ago while she was out on commission photographing pubs. At the end of every day, she found she had as many pictures of doors as she did of pubs, and realized she was hooked. She walked mile upon mile through the streets of London finding and photographing interesting doors. When she approached us as publishers, she had 3,500 in her archive. If you’re into doors, like us, you can’t say no to a project like this. We’ve selected 500 of Cath’s doors and put them into geographical and historical order with the help of the house historian Melanie Backe-Hansen, who was born and brought up in Australia but once in London, never left. Doors of London is the result.

Now Available in the USA

We published Doors of London in the UK last November. It has now arrived in our warehouse in Chicago and is published today in the USA and Canada. It’s been quite a journey, but finally the baby is born. For a preview, click here.

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