George Washington Sulgrave Manor Cast Iron Doorstop — Greenblatt 1925 

Greenblatt Studios of Boston issued Design #1 in 1925 — and they chose Sulgrave Manor. Not a ship, not a cottage, not a cat. The ancestral home of George Washington: the stone manor in Northamptonshire, England where the Washington family line took root before John Washington crossed the Atlantic in 1656 and planted it in Virginia soil. Four generations later, a nation was born. This doorstop was cast four years after the manor's 1921 reopening as an Anglo-American peace memorial — at the height of centenary sentiment between two countries that had not been at war in a century. Greenblatt chose it as their flagship subject for good reason.

The casting is exceptional. Hand-painted at the studio by skilled craftsmen using multiple layers of thick enamel, the obverse renders the manor facade in full sculptural relief: whitewashed stone walls, a tiled roof, climbing ivy reaching the chimney stacks, flanking shade trees, and a recessed arched entry — all in surviving original cream, green, and brown tones. The base reads:

ANCESTRAL HOME OF GEORGE WASHINGTON

The flat reverse carries the full historical narrative in raised lettering within a shaped cartouche — a cast iron historical marker, permanent and inarguable:

SULGRAVE MANOR / NORTHAMPTONSHIRE / ENGLAND / THE ENGLISH HOME OF THE WASHINGTONS / BUILT BY LAURENCE WASHINGTON / WHO BOUGHT THE ESTATE FROM HENRY VIII IN 1539 AD / PURCHASED IN 1914 AD BY THE BRITISH AMERICAN PEACE CENTENARY COMMITTEE / IT WAS RESTORED AND OPENED AS A MEMORIAL AND MUSEUM ON JUNE 21 1921 AD BY COL. GEORGE HARVEY / AMERICAN AMBASSADOR

The maker's mark reads: COPYRIGHT 1925 BY A.M. GREENBLATT STUDIOS — DESIGN #1

Greenblatt competed directly with Hubley of Lancaster and produced what collectors and reference guides consistently rank among the finest cast iron doorstops ever made. This piece is documented in The Doorstop Book (Smith). Note for collectors: Hubley and National Foundry produced smaller Sulgrave Manor bookends — this is the Greenblatt doorstop, a categorically different and more significant object.

CONDITION

Good. The casting is sturdy and complete with no cracks, breaks, or repairs — it carries its 6½ pounds with the authority of well-made antique iron. Original polychrome paint survives across the facade in cream, green, and brown, with age-appropriate wear and paint loss concentrated along the roofline and upper chimney stacks. The reverse panel shows heavy surface oxidation across the flat field, consistent with a century of use. No repainting, no restoration — what you see is what left the Boston studio in 1925.

DIMENSIONS / SPECIFICATIONS

• Overall: 8¾" H × 11" W × 4" D
• Weight: 6 lbs 8.4 oz
• Material: Cast iron, original hand-applied polychrome enamel
• Maker: A.M. Greenblatt Studios, Boston, MA
• Catalog Number: Design #1
• Copyright: 1925
• Subject: Sulgrave Manor, Northamptonshire, England
• Reference: The Doorstop Book, Smith, p. 236
• Campbell's Soup Can (4" H) Shown for Scale