A 21st Century Coppersmith
Photo of a copper frieze and curved gutter on Las Vegas home.Photo courtesy of Hans Liebscher
High-resolution version of this photo.
Hans Liebscher remembers walking with his father through the cities of post-war Germany in the early 1950s and seeing the destruction to the homes and buildings lining the streets.
"Some of the buildings were burned out, and only their shells were standing," Liebscher recalls. "But for a lot of them, the copper roofs were still there. They were bright green. Some buildings even had copper still intact on the bay windows. It was really quite fascinating."
His appreciation for copper eventually grew into a vocation. At age 16, he became an apprentice in the metalsmith trade in his native country and later traveled throughout Europe to hone his skills and learn from other craftsmen.
Today, Liebscher is well-known in the copper industry in America, providing custom designed, handcrafted copper products and as an installer of copper building materials for the high-end residential market throughout the United States. Not long after relocating here from Germany in 1985, he opened a studio, Hans Liebscher Custom Copper Works and Sheet Metal, in San Marcos, California. Most of his signature copper work is done at his own foundry in Mexico. He works with several suppliers of copper in the USA. as well as in Europe.
The homes Liebscher has worked on are showcases for his talent, containing such unique copper features as hand-hammered bathtubs and sinks, standing seam window bays, chimney shrouds and hand-embellished fireplaces, ornate cupolas and dormers, smooth-drawn copper door caps, ornamental fluted downspouts and gutter brackets, gargoyles and copper roof shingles and tiles.
The projects don't end there. He's quick to boast that, "if a customer can imagine it, I can create it."
"All of my intricate projects I do myself," Liebscher says. "It's very hard to find qualified help. And I've got some trade secrets that I don't want to give away."
Photo of a designer hood ornament for an outdoor pizza oven being built for a Las Vegas home. Photo courtesy of Hans Liebscher
High-resolution version of this photo.
Liebscher will either install a manufactured product for a builder or homeowner or make it entirely to specification. The more elaborate handcrafted copper installations can be pricey. An ornamental gutter system alone can cost well over a million dollars on a high-end custom home, he says, adding, "There's really no limit."
Currently, he's working on three very intricate copper projects for luxury homes in Las Vegas. The work includes ornamental copper gutters and downspouts, radius turret roofs and hand-hammered finials, hand-hammered columns, a handcrafted designer range hood for an outdoor pizza oven and a fireplace hood.
"What people are looking for, most of the time, is the more classical design," Liebscher says. "They want to recreate the look of buildings from 150 years ago."
In the desert where there is little humidity, copper products weather to a brownish, nut-like color, rather than the blue-green color associated with moist environments. Regardless, they maintain an equilibrium with nature and remain well preserved, an attribute that helps justify their premium value, Liebscher notes. "If copper is installed right, it's essentially maintenance-free and will last for hundreds of years. It doesn't need to be painted and it ages gracefully. It doesn't disintegrate with age, but becomes more prestigious, more beautiful."
Over the years, Liebscher has worked on historic renovation projects in Berlin, helped restore the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles and was instrumental in saving or replacing copper aspects of other landmark buildings such as the Cotton Exchange, which was damaged by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.
"Copper is one of the oldest existing materials, and it has always had a good reputation," Liebscher says. "In some ways, copper has the same value as gold, because it was only found in prestigious and luxury buildings and lasted for centuries." Cu
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Also in this Issue:
- New Copper Solar Cells Promise a Bright Future
- Ivy-covered Walls, Copper Roofs Help Keep Tradition Alive
- A 21st Century Coppersmith
- Diet and Depression