Let's Talk Turkey about a Unique Doorbell
Right Around the time Sophie Cubbison invented packaged poultry stuffing in the early 1930's, Joseph Klein patented a long chime doorbell with a concealed mechanism that he marketed under the Velvatone name.
With success from popularizing her stuffing, Mrs. Cubbison built a spectacular Spanish Revival home in Los Angeles' Mt. Washington neighborhood.
Mrs. Cubbison helped design the two-story house, dubbed "Casa de Mi Sueño," or "My Dream House." It is considered "much more convincing than most of the 19th-century adobes," according to David Gebhard and Robert Winter's "An Architectural Guidebook to Los Angeles."
The home features oak doors, custom iron work and stone floors. And it has a unique chime niche that measures an unusually narrow five inches wide and 50 inches tall.
Even after a meticulous restoration, the doorbell niche remained empty until the current owner contacted ElectraChime. With some internet sleuthing, the owner had determined the original chime was likely one of Mr. Klein's Velvatone doorbells as the missing mechanism appeared to have been recessed at the top of the niche. Another clue being that Velvatone had a sales office in Los Angeles.
Alas, Velvatone was an also ran in doorbells. Today, as Mrs Cubbison might have quipped, Velvatone doorbells are about as common as hen's teeth.
With a surviving Velvatone catalog from the ElectraChime collection for reference, we determined the original chime was almost certainly a single bell model. Armed with this information and an original patent drawing, ElectraChime built a highly credible reproduction to do the niche proud.
Once more, the Cubbison house has all the trimmings.
If you are looking for a special custom doorbell for your own home contact us.
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