Uniquities Architectural Antiques & Salvage
/Inglewood design district
For 25 years Uniquities has been supplying 18th & 19th century European salvage, period hardware and architectural details that may otherwise be impossible to find. Sourcing primarily in the UK, acquisitions are from many types of buildings including mills, schools, hospitals, factories, farms, churches, manor homes, Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian houses.
Call it architectural salvage, deconstructed materials or irreplaceable artifacts - all refer to elements of structure and fabric that were once permanent fixtures on or in buildings.
Julia Shantz, founder of the company, and husband Doug travel to Europe about 4 times a year to select materials - at times purchasing entire structures – which are then transported to Calgary – and likely never available again.
Findings include:
- slate, door frames, furniture, lighting, and unique smaller items
- Architectural Antiques: fireplaces, urns, benches, gates, railings, balusters, statuary, chimney pots, sinks, troughs, garden furniture, Victorian doorknob, etc
- Bricks: pre Industrial Revolution hand thrown to early 20th century machine made. From creamy beige, to Staffordshire blue to Suffolk red.
- Roofing Tiles: Welsh slate tiles, Cotswold Stone, Westmorland, Rosemary’s
- Reclaimed wood: paneling, flooring, baseboards, trusses, beams, bressumers, planks
- Building Stone: Coping stone, lintels, flagstone, cobble setts, kerbs
- Flooring: Quarry tiles, encaustic floors, marble, limestone, slate and terrazzo
- Decorative stone: window frames, columns, doorways, bridges, walls, capitals, coping stone
- Buildings: Barns (16th & 17th century English timber and hand hewn beams), granaries, cart sheds, summerhouses, gatehouses, period houses
Repurposing material diverts waste from landfills, saves manufacturing costs, and preserves valuable mineral and forestry resources.
Building with salvage also helps to preserve architectural history (such as an impressive 12 foot high stone chimney piece that once graced a chateau in the Loire Valley). When a panel door or a length of hand carved cornice is thrown into the landfill it is gone forever. The craftsmanship, authentic period detail and beautiful patina of old materials simply cannot be reproduced.
Uniquities can source and supply anything from a single item to a complete building, and can also work with clients and builders to help with restoration and installation.
The showroom is open weekly, container reveals happen a few time a year, and a "locator's service" is available to clients looking for specific pieces.
Bay 2, 2501 Alyth Rd. SE. Calgary
403-228-9221
Tues - Sat 10 - 5