Prospect Park Lake Brooklyn, Cast Iron Railing Restoration

Richmond Iron reproduced the cast iron railing at Prospect Park Lake for the Prospect Park Alliance. At the inception of the ambitious project to completely restore the waterfront landscaping and buildings, none of the original cast iron railing could be found. Richmond Iron designed accurate reproduction castings from Architect’s drawings and old photographs of the railing. Some of the benefactors of Prospect Park Alliance and residents of Brooklyn had supplied old family photo’s of themselves or their parents enjoying the park and these were used to make foundry patterns to cast the railing.

The pattern makers at Richmond Iron used advanced traditional foundry pattern making techniques to ensure that decorative details like the rope molding in the railings and posts were rendered in iron with full depth and detail. Patterns were created with multiple hard tooling loose pieces and loose pieces in flexible rubber to mold undercut details otherwise impossible in sand cast molds.

To ensure easy assembly onsite and durable railings, Richmond Iron also machined the posts and railing socket hardware. Precision machined fitments and set screws provide strong attachments for railing components.

Historic Photos and Found Originals Informed Design

Advanced Traditional Foundry Patterns and Sand Molding