Victorian internal doors

[SamR]

Not a technical question as such but the four panel doors in my approx. 1890s Victorian terrace have their door knobs and strike plates in different places.

• in photo A the door knob is where (I guess) it should go due to the positioning of the panels.
• in photo B the knob is higher up with a hole that has crudely been filled in, suggesting it was at one time further up on that door.
• in photo C the door jamb has evidence of an old strike plate far higher up the door than any knobs, existing or filled in, on the other doors.

Which position is correct for the period and type of house please as I would like them to match up!

Many thanks.

 

[a twig]

From my experience A is “normal” but that’s based on one house that I lived in that had doors like that

 

[Stevers]

For door A the mortice latch is too short for a knob (watch your fingers!), although you can see where the original knob was mounted a bit further in. Door B is a bit of a mystery as there is no sign of there ever being a knob on the middle rail, but the mortice latch is also far too short for a knob and in completely the wrong place. To me the higher height and short mortice latch is associated with a lever handle. Longer mortice latches more suitable for knobs are still available, but they're not quite as long as they ought to be.

The doors are mounted to open the other way to how they would have been traditionally. It looks like they have had an aggressive caustic dip which has opened all the joints, and generally not done them any favours.

A friend has a similar door from a reclamation yard and that's been hung upside down and opens the wrong way - there's some seriously weird stuff out there!

 

[SamR]

For door A the mortice latch is too short for a knob (watch your fingers!), although you can see where the original knob was mounted a bit further in. Door B is a bit of a mystery as there is no sign of there ever being a knob on the middle rail, but the mortice latch is also far too short for a knob and in completely the wrong place. To me the higher height and short mortice latch is associated with a lever handle. Longer mortice latches more suitable for knobs are still available, but they're not quite as long as they ought to be.

The doors are mounted to open the other way to how they would have been traditionally. It looks like they have had an aggressive caustic dip which has opened all the joints, and generally not done them any favours.

A friend has a similar door from a reclamation yard and that's been hung upside down and opens the wrong way - there's some seriously weird stuff out there!

It’s crazy what different people have done to them over the years!
Do you think the green circle is the correct placement for the knob on these types of door?

 

[Stevers]

Do you think the green circle is the correct placement for the knob on these types of door?

Absolutely, but it will be a struggle to find a new mortice latch to reach all the way to that hole. I've just noticed that the door appears to have been extended at the bottom, presumably this wasn't an original door for the house or it has been moved. Nicely beaded door cases though!

 

[fernicarry]

Do you think the green circle is the correct placement for the knob on these types of door?

Yes.

You can get horizontal lock cases that put the spindle in the right place for a knob and being shorter (in the vertical dimension) avoids having to cut into the tenon joints where the centre rail attaches to the stile. That said I think you probably have tubular latches in those doors which you can also get with longer backset (distance from edge of door to spindle).

 

[Stevers]

We were short of one horizontal mortice lock case for our living room door, but were able to recover one from a bathroom door that still had its key. Both bathroom doors then got treated to a locking tubular latch. Easy enough to fit with just enough reach for a knob:
https://www.lockshopdirect.co.uk/products/legge-3722lk/3724lk-locking-mortice-tubular-latch-40008/

Both bathrooms are original from 1879 and are just 6'x5', and both doors had been rehung to open out into the hall/landing. We have beaded and rebated door linings similar to yours, and in one case they'd cut the door, and in the other case they'd hacked (literally) a rebate for the original width door. Both now open into the bathrooms, but neither could realistically be hung for privacy - so the onus is on the occupier to lock the door.