2. Wooden latches, strings, leather straps were all primitive examples.
3. By the 18th century, houses in Europe had elaborate iron handles.
4. French palaces showed off delicately cast brass versions.
5. English houses preferred simple round or oval knobs.
6. Door handles were soon locally made, with local tastes and materials.
7. 20th century saw architects, rather than artisans, take to door handles.
8. The advent of art nouveau led to the spread of florid, organic brass handles.
9. Door handles were rethought as architectural specialties, not mere add-ons.
10. But the big shift came with adding functional sensibilities to the door handle.
11. The modernists saw buildings as wholes and door handles as its minimalist forms.
12. Bauhaus handles became the complete expression of modernism in the 1920s.
13. Their radical, stripped-down designs worked, looked decent and felt comfortable.
14. As factories went from weapons to products after WW2, handles became easy jobs.
15. But the most influential door handle was designed by a philosopher, Wittgenstein.
16. Wittgenstein's basic handle morphed into what's now the common door handle.
17. With handles becoming like chairs, the postmodern era saw a brief renaissance.
18. Consumers and architects wondered how many more designs the world needs.
19. Thereafter, door handles increasingly became ill-considered and insignificant.
20. The door handle is our critical interface with a building, yet it now seems absent.
21. They've been reduced to the most generic, sorry, cheaply made piece of metal.
22. Which all reflects the value we've come to place on aesthetics and architecture.