Jump to content

Looking for 1920s vintage ceiling fans to install in my 1921 house


Levi Mevis

Recommended Posts

Greetings everyone, I just recently bought my first house a 1921 Craftsman Bungalow that I would like to get my hands on a couple of 1920s vintage Ceiling Fans to install in the house in a couple of the rooms in the house (the living room and my bedroom.) 

Does anyone here have any 1920s vintage Ceiling Fans with a light kit installed on them that they'd be willing to sell me?

My house by the way from what I can tell only had light fixtures in the house no fans or anything. 

Thanks for your help in the matter. 

-Levi 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

does anyone have anything or any leads on someone or some place I might find some 1920s vintage ceiling fans in with a light kit?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Where are you located? I have a bunch of ceiling fans from that era, but most of them need restoration. Quite a few have threaded holes where you can add your own light attachments. Either that, or they can have a fitter for a schoolhouse globe. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Congratulations on the purchase of your first home.

1920's ceiling fans are in plentiful supply (with some exceptions) and are generally cheap to buy and have tank-like reliability with the proper maintenance. The only truly "factory" integrated light solution (for most of these) may well have been in the form of an enlarged, trumpet-shaped light fitter and a schoolhouse globe, attached to a slightly modified oil cup/switch housing. Anything fancier was usually a special order (per the customer's wishes) and assembled at the dealer level, not factory. So as Louis said, most of these 1920's ceiling fans (Century, R&M, Hunter, Diehl, GE, etc) had threaded plugs on the "nose" of the fan (really the bearing cover/oil well/switch housing assemblies), plugs that could be removed, and short threaded stems with light sockets installed. Glass was always the customer's own preferred choice, whatever was available at the dealer. Some models (the Westy sidewinder) even had more than four plugs in the faceplate where one could install multiple stems and sockets.

You'll probably want to control these fans with a variable-speed wall control, rated for the amp draw of the fan.

Edited by Evan Atkinson
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Louis Weedman said:

Where are you located? I have a bunch of ceiling fans from that era, but most of them need restoration. Quite a few have threaded holes where you can add your own light attachments. Either that, or they can have a fitter for a schoolhouse globe. 

I live in Elkhart, Indiana. I would be interested in at least 2 fans, one for my bedroom and one for my livingroom.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I found listed on Facebook Marketplace a couple of 1920s vintage ceiling fans for sale on there (two separate listings, one in NW Indiana near where the Fandango Meet is held, and the other is up in South Haven, Michigan.)

I could drive over there and pick one of them up, but I'd want to see if the price is reasonable that they are asking for the fans, for what they are.

Fan one is a R & M Ceiling Fan from 1921 that is complete including all of the original blades, and an intact snap-switch in the nose, and the person listing the fan wants $300 

1921 R & M Ceiling Fan Listing - Facebook Marketplace

The Second fan is an early 1920s Hunter Model C-17 that also appears to be complete with all of its original blades and an intact snap switch in the base, this one the owner is wanting $350 for.

1920s Hunter C17 Ceiling Fan Listing - Facebook Market Place 

What do you guys think? Do these fans look like they might be worth looking into and maybe trying to make an offer for? If so what would be a reasonable offer?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Both are good, relatively common 1920's ceiling fans and they will serve you well. An R&M Style H and the Hunter Adaptaire. A plus that they seem to have all their parts, and intact and functional speed control switches.

It would be good to understand that restoration on these would be a labor of love, not doing it for any $$ you might recoup from their eventual sale. At the current asking prices for both, you'll have no room in them to spend much on restoration. They are rather plain fans, so start out with a lower offer - the worst they can say is no.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/20/2023 at 5:58 AM, Evan Atkinson said:

Both are good, relatively common 1920's ceiling fans and they will serve you well. An R&M Style H and the Hunter Adaptaire. A plus that they seem to have all their parts, and intact and functional speed control switches.

It would be good to understand that restoration on these would be a labor of love, not doing it for any $$ you might recoup from their eventual sale. At the current asking prices for both, you'll have no room in them to spend much on restoration. They are rather plain fans, so start out with a lower offer - the worst they can say is no.

I can't tell in the pictures, but are any of these fans able to have a light fixture added to them? And I'll see if I can shoot an offer to one of them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/20/2023 at 5:58 AM, Evan Atkinson said:

Both are good, relatively common 1920's ceiling fans and they will serve you well. An R&M Style H and the Hunter Adaptaire. A plus that they seem to have all their parts, and intact and functional speed control switches.

It would be good to understand that restoration on these would be a labor of love, not doing it for any $$ you might recoup from their eventual sale. At the current asking prices for both, you'll have no room in them to spend much on restoration. They are rather plain fans, so start out with a lower offer - the worst they can say is no.

Also I noticed that these fans seem to hang relatively close to the ceiling (maybe a 3" downrod) and I was wondering how one would go about hanging one of these fans if there is already an existing electrical box in the room from some old active K & T wiring that was plastered over (I was wanting to put one of these ceiling fans in my living room where it appears there was a box from a light fixture of some sort previously but it was removed and plastered over).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Both of those are workhorses but IMO you could get them cheaper at a meet. Having their switches significantly raises the value.

All old fans take a 3/4" pipe. Standard stuff and you can drop it however long you want. You're going to need to reinforce them into the framing of the house. Typically people put a 2/4 over the adjoining joists and just have the canopy cover the hole.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/22/2023 at 9:28 AM, Levi Mevis said:

I can't tell in the pictures, but are any of these fans able to have a light fixture added to them? And I'll see if I can shoot an offer to one of them.

They both should allow you to stub-out small 1/4" or 3/8"?? pipes from the threaded plugs on the switch housings. You can add sockets and shades to these.

6BDD5BBB-DBA8-4054-87E7-16E7E938290E.jpeg

Edited by Evan Atkinson
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/22/2023 at 1:25 PM, Levi Mevis said:

Also I noticed that these fans seem to hang relatively close to the ceiling (maybe a 3" downrod) and I was wondering how one would go about hanging one of these fans if there is already an existing electrical box in the room from some old active K & T wiring that was plastered over (I was wanting to put one of these ceiling fans in my living room where it appears there was a box from a light fixture of some sort previously but it was removed and plastered over).

You can hang them on however short of a downrod you want, but fans of the type you're considering need (at the minimum) a 1' drop to function properly. If you have typical 8' ceilings, at the minimum drop height, the motors and blades will be closer to your head than is desirable.

2nd what Andrew says. The Style H and Adaptaire need a large lag hook screwed into a solid beam to hold their weight. I would thoroughly investigate this electrical box you speak of, determine how it's mounted, and whether a lag hook can be installed through the box (if it's mounted on a beam). If the box is not beam-mounted, do not hang the fan from it. You don't want these boat anchors crashing down because of a sub-par mounting situation.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've actually picked up an early 2000s Hunter Ceiling fan that I installed in my bedroom that had a light kit built into it already. 

And the nice thing about this fan is that it does have a vintage look to it and I only had to give $30 for it at the local Habitat for Humanity Restore.

 

Bedroom Ceiling Fan.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...