T & B Foundry

The Taylor & Boggis (T&B) foundry on Cleveland’s east side was one of our most interesting salvages to date. T&B was Cleveland’s longest operating foundry; Opening in the 1860s and making its last pour in early 2012. The T&B foundry salvage occurred over a period of month’s involving both our in-house salvage team and a crew of Amish workers that assisted us.

1891 City Directory for Cleveland, Ohio (p.884)

One of the furnaces.

The Ladles that were used to transport and pour molten metals.

We salvaged beautiful hand-made patterns constructed of mahogany or pine. They were used to form the sand molds employed in the production of iron parts and components for industry. These molds represent a piece of Cleveland’s industrial history and include parts for companies such as Eaton (Fawick), Warner-Swasey, Vulcan, and Rockwell.

The patterns created in T&B years of operation, spanning over three centuries, were stored in several different buildings; Including a dilapidated six story office building and an old bus depot. The patterns needed to be removed before the buildings could be to be torn down. For us allowing these patterns to go to the landfill was not an option. We were determined to give these relics of Cleveland’s 2nd industrial revolution a second life. And so we began the enormous task of removing the patterns.

Room after room was full of the awesome handcrafted forms.

After room…

Floor after floor…

Yes… Even the old bathrooms.

We removed the patterns from the upper levels, through an old freight elevator…

And staged them in a refrigeration garage that was used to test how automobiles would react to colder climates.

This process worked really well… until the elevator broke.

Forced to get creative, we rented a 55′ shooting boom fork lift…

cut a hole into the side of the building…

and began using the lift to bring the patterns to ground level on pallets.

We are now in the process of documenting and cataloging each pattern. Pieces adapted to be tables, stool, mirrors, wall pieces as well as ones left as is are available. Please contact us with any inquiries.

View Larger Map