I took this picture on Sunday, May 4th, 2014. This photo was taken at the Boundary Tavern and Grille in Chicago, IL, on Division near Damen. The restaurant has since closed; it was around 1932 W Division St, and I believe a place called The Perch is here now.
This was a strange little lock and restroom door. Let’s get into it.
There is a LOT going on here. Let’s start with the barrel bolt lock itself. We’ve got four nice Phillips screws, a good cylindrical bolt, but the bolt casing is angled with flat sides! What could’ve inspired this? The knob is nice too, a good bit to grab onto. You’ll note, however, that they had to screw the casing in against the curve of the door, so it sticks out straight past where the doorframe starts curving away. This also unfortunately leaves a little bit of a gap between door and frame.
The keeper perfectly matches the casing with its angles and flat sides, which I find fascinating. The keeper is screwed on with hex screws through, which are bigger and bulkier than the screws used on the casing. Since the keeper is so much smaller, it makes this part of the lock seem a lot more bunched up and crowded. It also seems like it would be a lot harder to work these screws.
Overall – a solid lock. But obviously, that’s not all. We’ve also got this extra apparatus beneath the lock which LOOKS like it should be an additional lock, but really does nothing at all. The doorway section of it uses a THIRD type of screw, even more complicated than the first two. Meanwhile the circular section uses a Phillips screw again, but a slightly bigger looking Phillips screw than the ones used for the bolt lock casing.
Seriously – what is going on in this bathroom??
If you look close, you’ll see some wear and tear. The bolt lock itself has plenty of scuffs, and beneath the metal there’s some scrapes in the metal. There’s also scrape marks above the circular plate, indicating that it may have been higher at one point.
Actually, my theory is that there USED to be a different type of lock here, probably a little one-sided circular deadbolt lock, and these things are covering up the holes of where it was after it was removed for whatever reason. They probably just had an old barrel bolt lock sitting around and tossed that on afterwards. Given that they’re on opposite parts of the door sides, this might even suggest that the door was at one point flipped around or upside-down. But it’s hard to say for sure. Still, it’s fun to make deductive inferences, isn’t it?
This is an interesting restroom lock, a little confusing, but hey, it works. I hope you enjoyed it!