March 06

TAKE A LOOK INSIDE SALVAGE ANGEL, ONE OF NJ’s LARGEST RECLAIMED ARCHITECTURE WAREHOUSES

Posted by thebplot on March 6, 2016 in Design, Photo Feature > Image says it all

Doors and a spectacular Sputnik-inspired 40-arm chandelier.

Hundreds of doors and a Sputnik-inspired 40-arm chandelier at Salvage Angel. The Coaster photos used with permission.

What began in 2002 as a personal desire to restore a home to its original glory has evolved into Central New Jersey’s largest architectural salvage showroom, Salvage Angel, located in Asbury Park.

“Salvage Angel grew from a personal need but I knew there were other people like me trying to truly restore their homes in a pure way,” said Carolyn Curtin, founder. “I started getting wish lists from friends and neighbors and my hobby grew from collecting architectural items to include vintage furniture and home decor.”

The 20,000 square foot warehouse in the former Canada Dry building on Ridge Avenue has hundreds of thousands of vintage and antique pieces like reclaimed lumber, moldings, decorative copper filigree, custom made rugs, stained glass, lighting, plumbing fixtures, tile, furniture, nautical fixtures, bathtubs, mantles and housewares. But that list doesn’t nearly include all the surprise objects waiting for a creative brain to repurpose them like the set of perfectly rusted five-foot long anchor or the vintage “Big 6” gaming wheel.

Carolyn Curtin and Brett Holloway, the brains and muscle behind Salvage Angel, in the new 20,000 square foot warehouse.

Newly acquired pieces include a set of wood doors with overhead transoms reclaimed from a Union County bank and triple-trough iron sinks from a private school in Philadelphia. Ninety percent of Salvage Angel’s items are pre-1980.

Curtin and Brett Holloway, her chief supporter, are in the midst of upcycling a small church in Ocean County and history-rich mansion in northern Monmouth County – both destined for the wrecking ball.

They acquire items based on the key criteria of quality, design and “the patina of time.” Every curated piece speaks to the history of our country – a symbol of made in America craftsmanship. Most of the architectural details were reclaimed from spectacular old mansions in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York where there were a handful of dominant architects and aesthetics in the early 1900’s.

A room in the Salvage Angel warehouse.

“We have the opportunity to showcase the best and most beautiful in salvage and vintage design here and promote Asbury while we are doing it,” said Curtin. “I look at myself as a foster parent to a collection of beautiful pieces handmade by talents decades ago waiting for their forever home. The bigger, the chippier the heavier something is, the more excited I am about it.”

Salvage Angel is on Facebook; the warehouse is by appointment only.