Catalog produced in 1900 by the Gurney Heating MFG. Co.

The catalog page above was found online and pertains directly to the radiators in our house. They are Gurney Harvard radiators and date from approximately 1900. Since we're still not sure about the age of the house, this helps give us some dates to work with. These radiators are beautiful and we simply can't believe what the years and previous tenants had done to them. All of the radiators in the house were COVERED with multi layers of latex paint. One particular radiator had the original silver paint covered by a layer of red, a layer of pink, tan then white. I had these sand blasted at a local auto body shop then brought them home for the final touches. One coat of auto primer (burnt orange) then a couple of coats of metal flake gold. I wanted silver, my wife wanted gold.

I bought a hand-truck specifically for this project. These radiators have an amazing amount of mass to them.

You can see 3 layers of latex on this one




Just visible through the paint are the words "Gurney" and "Harvard".
Roll over with your mouse to see the 'After' picture.

I, of course, was nervous that with all the movement, rides in the back of the truck and the sand-blasting that these would lose their water tight seal. I handled them with kid gloves (not literally).

Sandblasted and ready for primer




The gold paint going over the primer




One of the finished Harvards




Flushing out 100 years worth of sludge




The finished Imperial by the H.B. Smith Co. ca. 1910