SIMI VALLEY : Craftsman Replicates Oval Office Mantel

When Richard Atkins makes a mantel for a fireplace, he is carrying on the trade he learned from his father, an apprentice to the cabinetmaker to the czar of Russia.

He brings this heritage to his current project: reproducing the mantel of the Oval Office for the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library near Simi Valley.

“The library is a historical place, a special place, and this is my first opportunity to be a part of that,” Atkins said. “I haven’t done anything else more valuable.”

Atkins, 41, and his wife, Ginny, 37, own Master Mantel Makers, a family business located in an Oxnard industrial park. Four months ago, he was approached by Peck-Jones Construction Co. of Simi Valley, the library contractor, to do the job.

The Reagan Presidential Library, a 153,000-square-foot mission-style building, sits on 29 acres of a 100-acre tract on Presidential Drive across from the Wood Ranch development in Simi Valley. The $40-million building is scheduled to be dedicated in November. It will house papers from the Reagan Administration and include a replica of the Oval Office in the White House.

Atkins and his wife are working from blueprints of the mantel and photos supplied by the White House. The mantel, which is seven feet wide and nearly five feet high, has rounded moldings and supports that resemble Greek columns with cornices.

To make the plaster mantel, which will be painted to resemble the marble of the original in the White House, Atkins spent three weeks drawing up a design.

The next job was to build a wooden replica in pieces, then make a plaster mold of the wooden pieces. The process then involved pouring rubber between the plaster mold and the wood, which picks up every detail of the wood. Finally, plaster was poured into the rubber mold for the finished product.

The finished mantel will be taken to the library this weekend.

The mantel could have been made of wood and then painted to resemble marble, but Atkins said plaster is more like stone and feels cold when touched.

Atkins said his father, Harry Atkins, 72, told him not to get into the business.

He warned that mantel making is not profitable and that there is the chance of losing a finger.