SPIRA Solid Brass Butt Hinge

SPIRA is the hinge with a small turned spire at each end of the pin. It is the detail you find on the doors of Parisian apartments and Victorian townhouses, where the hinges were finished as carefully as the handles, and it is why a SPIRA hinge looks like a piece of jewellery on the edge of a door rather than a piece of ironmongery. Closed, you see a slim column of brass with a spire at the top and the bottom. Open, you see a square-cornered leaf with eight countersunk screw holes.

Each hinge is solid brass, with 3mm leaves and a 14mm barrel built up from five knuckles, so the joints read as fine rings along the column. It weighs 271g and stands 162mm from tip to tip on a 102mm leaf, which suits a standard internal door without looking oversized. The leaves are morticed flush into the door edge and the frame, so the door closes on an even gap and only the column shows.

Three finishes

Polished Brass (PVD) is a bright mirror gold under a hard PVD coating, so it keeps its shine without polishing. Antique Brass is darker and browner, the finish for period doors, painted panelling and heritage joinery. Polished Chrome is a cool mirror silver that looks crisp against black, grey and white painted doors.

How many you need

Most internal doors take three hinges, set at the top, middle and bottom. A light door will sit happily on two, and heavy or tall doors should always have three. Buy a single hinge, a pair, or a pack of three for a whole door. The price per hinge falls as the pack gets larger, and every hinge comes with its own eight matching screws.

Where it works best

• Panelled internal doors in period homes, from Victorian terraces to Parisian-style apartments
• Black, grey and deep green painted doors, where the spires stand out
• Glazed doors and double doors, where the hinges are on show from both rooms
• Full-height wardrobe and dressing room doors that deserve a finished edge
• Doors fitted with brass lever or knob furniture in the same finish

Fitting

Each hinge comes with eight screws, and the leaves are morticed into the door edge and frame as with any butt hinge. Sold singly, as a pair or as a pack of three, made to order, and covered by our 10-year warranty against manufacturing defects. The SPIRA Flush Hinge is the same design for doors where you would rather not cut a recess.