Architectural salvage is a different kind of antiquing, less about small collectibles and more about the bones of old buildings themselves, and Conner’s Architectural Antiques on South 17th Street in Lincoln has spent more than 45 years specializing in exactly that. Rather than furniture or china, the shop’s stock in trade is vintage building material: salvaged hardware, fireplace mantels, doors, garden ornaments, and the beveled and stained glass windows that original construction crews would have considered irreplaceable even decades ago. For homeowners restoring an older house, architects sourcing period-correct details, or interior designers looking for a piece with real weight and history, Conner’s functions as a working supply house for materials that new construction simply cannot replicate.
The inventory reads like an inventory of an old house taken apart room by room. Hardware bins hold hinges, doorknobs, and fixtures pulled from demolitions and remodels across the region. Fireplace mantels in varying styles and woods anchor the showroom, offering a focal point for anyone rebuilding a period living room. Bathroom fixtures and light fixtures round out the interior offerings, while an outdoor and garden items section supplies architectural stonework, ironwork, and yard ornaments for landscaping projects that want an aged, established look from day one. The shop also carries literature related to architecture and design history, useful for anyone trying to correctly date or match a piece to its original era. Because so much of this material is one-of-a-kind by nature, salvaged rather than manufactured, no two visits to Conner’s turn up quite the same selection.
Conner’s has operated from more than one address over its long run in Lincoln, a reflection of how the business has grown and repositioned itself over the decades while staying rooted in the same South 17th Street corridor. That kind of longevity in a niche as specific as architectural salvage says something about the loyalty of its customer base, largely restoration-minded homeowners, contractors, and designers who return again and again for materials they cannot find at a standard home improvement store or even most general antique shops. The shop’s tagline, vintage building supplies, captures the focus succinctly: this is a source for the pieces that give an older home its authentic character, not a general secondhand store that happens to carry a few architectural odds and ends.
Because inventory in this category depends heavily on what comes out of local demolitions, remodels, and estate clearances, shoppers looking for a specific item, a matching mantel, a particular style of hardware, a set of matching doors, are encouraged to call ahead or email before making a special trip, since the right piece may take patience to track down. That said, browsing in person remains the best way to appreciate the scale and craftsmanship of what is on the floor at any given time, from ornate Victorian-era woodwork to simpler mid-century fixtures. Conner’s Architectural Antiques has built its reputation over more than four decades in Lincoln by supplying the salvaged doors, mantels, hardware, and windows that let old buildings, and the people renovating them, hold onto a piece of their original character.
