21st & Pine Panelling

Client: Brendan Kelley
Location: 21st & Pine, Philadelphia

Pine Street had become something of our home away from home, and this final project was a fitting finale. The quarter-sawn oak panels were harvested from the Dunminning Estate, a mansion built in 1897 by Theosophilus Parsons Chandler, founder of the University of Pennsylvania School of Architecture.

Making the rails, stiles, and panels fit together against and below the stairs was like completing a three-dimensional puzzle – where you had to make your own individual pieces. In order to fit the panels against the skirt board of the stairs we had to cut the oak on angles, then cut profiles using laminate trimmers along the bottom. We laid out the top rail so that the light switches fit, and installed our white oak three-piece baseboard from St. Joseph's Seminary along the bottom.

The process was filmed for Discovery Channel's "Planet Green" channel, which meant that we had to install a section of panelling alongside "This Old House" host Steve Thomas. Fun.


Client Testimonial

"Brendan's ability to visualize the outcome of this paneling project was astounding. The paneling was remarkably complex in its construction, and almost every panel had been originally constructed with varying dimensions. Brendan was able to assemble the pieces in a logical way, and had creative ideas to minimize the visibility of the inherent imperfections in the material. Nobody would ever know that this paneling was installed recently. The outcome was simply fantastic, well beyond our expectations."

Brendan Kelley

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