A walnut-paneled library once graced the Morton Estate in Carol Stream, Ill. But by 2005, the Gregorian Mansion had fallen into disrepair.

That’s when Architectural Antiques swooped in, disassembling and salvaging the entire room—paneling, doors, the mantel piece and the fireplace—only to recreate it inside their Minneapolis storefront.

“We’re the Ikea of architectural salvage,” said Scott Anderson, the owner and purveyor of Architectural Antiques. “We meticulously remove items with the intent to recreate them.”

“It’s hard to visualize how someone might take a 20-foot square room and put it in their house,” Anderson said. “The best way you do that is by taking the item and actually setting it up.”

“We meticulously remove items with the intent to recreate them. We actually set the piece up so you can visualize that piece in your space.”

Scott Anderson

See just a few of the spaces Architectural Antiques helped envision and outfit:

Vinsetta Garage

Restaurant owners Curt Catallo and Ann Stevenson incorporated a great sense of style into their most recent restaurant, Vinsetta Garage, Donovan said. They transformed an old building in Clarkston, Mich., into a funky eating establishment where the décor spans decades.  Here’s what they finished the space with: oak school library tables and stools Architectural Antiques found in Ely, Minn.; a mammoth white enameled cooler; a collection of Art Deco light fixtures from the 1930s and the 1960s; and industrial factory lights.

Before Catallo and Stevenson finished the space.

The Vinsetta Garage restaurant, after the renovation.

Homes

Architectural Antiques has been instrumental in helping to locate the decor pieces that truly define a room, from light fixtures to the perfect chair.

The dining room of Denny Kemp’s home. “It takes an astute eye and the confidence to take a risk when you are trying to envision and integrate a gigantic Italian crystal chandelier into your home,” said Emily Donovan, part of the Architectural Antiques team. “It’s not always the easiest thing to do, but some just have the knack for it, like Denny Kemp!”

“Our treasures can be found everywhere,” Donovan said. “Jeff Andrews, the Kardashian’s designer, made good use of an amazing light fixture we recently found in the middle of nowhere, in Missouri,” she said. Scott Anderson recalls finding the light “in a tiny antique store that was meticulously set up and displayed. There in the back next to the trash was this bent glass fixture, its other parts strewn throughout the store.” Anderson brought the light back and sold it to Andrews. It now hangs in the Kardashian’s California home.

“We met Jeff when he was here in Minnesota working on Chan Poling and Eleanor Mondale’s farm,” Donovan said. Architectural Antiques helped him find just the right light fixture, a unique box beam ceiling fixture with chains, and a walnut mantle surround with an owl motif.

The walnut mantle surround with an owl motif on Chan Poling and Eleanor Mondale’s farm.

Twin Cities Restaurants and Retail Spaces

Those unique touches at your favorite restaurants might just have been salvaged by Architectural Antiques. They’ve worked on a variety of restaurants and retail hot spots throughout Minneapolis and Saint Paul.

The Dubliner got their lodge chair, benches and a votive candle stand from Architectural Antiques.

“Sweet theatre fixtures from Memphis, Tenn., and a set of oversized, bifold oak doors salvaged from a local church,” grace Bar La Grasa’s space, Donovan said. Source: Elness Swenson Graham Architects