WOOD GARDEN GATES  #57

This Garden Gate is Base Price + 15% (W/Pattern Blocks)
Go to Base Price Table

Berkeley, CA
With Pattern Blocks as shown

Wood fence gate designs #57 features continuous pickets that are relegated to a net gate height of 60″. Unless the pickets are supported by the Pattern Blocks as seen in the below image. Otherwise, we run the risk of the pickets bowing and cupping over the years.

Gate #57-1, below, shown with flanking panels style #16-1

San Ramon, CA

Prowell’s arched wooden gate design #57 in San Ramon, CA. Upon closer inspection, we can see the upper veranda rail, and the precedent for choosing the Garden Gate #57, with it’s similar design.

San Ramon, CA

The obvious advantages of #57’s open design with the contained enclosure of a small courtyard.

San Ramon, CA

A view from inside the courtyard. –The Pattern Blocks not only stabilize the continuous pickets from bowing or cupping, but add an aesthetic signature to an otherwise redundant design.

Sausalito, CA

The wood fence gate designs #57-2 in Sausalito, California.  One of the earliest of the style #57, before we introduced the Pattern Blocks. Although the gate is 6′ high and the vertical pickets have remained stable, it’s nevertheless a game of odds.

Shown with the Prowell Arbor #10

Sausalito, CA
w/o Pattern Blocks

The original gate picket fence #57, in Sausalito, CA. Created in 1996.

San Anselmo, CA
w/ Pattern Blocks

Gate #57 originally installed in 1997 as one of the earliest examples of Prowell’s Pattern Blocks. Shown with Arbor Style #15

San Anselmo, CA (Marin County)
Re-photographed 17 years later.

As is often the case, maintaining the finish has proven to be a burden. Originally finished by the homeowner with a Cabot Stain Natural Oil, with an annual maintenance requirement. But exterior finishes have improved and the current pre-finishing offered by Prowell include the non-toxic WoodRX, with a 7-8-year lifeline.

Your choice of applying a finish depends on the site, the architecture of the residence, and the flourishing extent of the planting schematic. A finish in itself will not extend the life of a Prowell product by a single day. In addition to joinery and a design complimenting seasonal changes, we use clear, vertical-grain, kiln-dried Western Cedar. with a minimum 20 growth rings per inch. One of the most resistant wood species to insects and bacteria (fungus and rot), The proper milling grades of western cedar will thrive and survive in any climate, be it northern Minnesota or southern Florida.

To view our pre-weathered finish, click here

A number of magazines and newspaper have featured our wood fence gate designs #57 over the years.
Click here to view the entire gallery of publications.

The custom wood garden gates were developed over a period of three years from 1990 to 1993. This seemingly innocuous little feature of a very early wood fence gate designs #57, in the Marin County’s Independent Journal, came at a time when only 3% of the population owned a computer and cell phones were relegated to tycoons. Charles wouldn’t begin coding the web site for another 3 years. So on this week in 1993, the phone message machine filled to its capacity every single day for a solid week.

It must be surprising to many of you, but before this there were simply no outdoor structures or assemblies that were joined. They were all carpenter methodologies of screws and nails and diagonal bracing and layers (one board mounted to another board). Three years of development in Prowell’s shop resulted in the final prototype of the stile and rail gate, and suddenly everything changed.

By now, with this equally innocent feature in the Chronicle, the Prowell web site was a seasoned 1-1/2 years old. All of five pages, with images posted that faced the hurdle of modems running at a whopping 9.6 speed.
The web site itself would grow and grow over the years to a fluctuating mass of some 650 pages.