Jim Comstock: A problem solver with an artist’s eye

Alison Boteler photo/Fairfield Sun

(Jim Comstock’s amazing body of work was revealed in the Fairfield Sun, June 12, 2008. Here’s what it said:)

When the phone rings at Wood Design in Fairfield, Jim Comstock expects the unexpected.

After 31 years in the business of producing custom architectural millwork, he’s earned the reputation of “problem solver.” Customers know they can bring him a challenge and he’ll have a solution.

“It’s because I know how to make things, I know the shortest route to repair,” Comstock said. “I work with the concept that to be cost effective. I have to complete a project in half the time a carpenter uses.”

From restoration work in historic homes and churches to building Martha Stewart’s kitchen in her Westport house on Turkey Hill Road, Comstock’s client list reads like a who’s who, and includes Rockefellers, Vanderbilts and corporate CEOs.

His mentor was from Europe and taught him specialty skills such as grinding his own molding knives to make custom windows, doors and furniture. This knowledge allows him to reproduce or replace architectural details that factories can’t do with modern production techniques.

A good thing

After Martha Stewart’s kitchen was completed, his work was published September 1996 in Martha Stewart Living, in an article titled “Dream Kitchen.”

Comstock was also asked to help on an article about shelves in May of ’96. “The shelving article included cabinet walls, bookcases for houses or really clever assemblies for New York City apartments,” Comstock said.

The idea behind the concept was that these were easier assemblies than traditional installations.

“This is important,” Comstock said, “ because I could now install in one day for a production schedule rather than days and days.” These shelves can be found in Martha’s book “Designing Details.”

His 15 minutes of fame came in 1999 with a call from Stewart to be on her TV show “Martha Stewart Living.” The segment, “Sewing Room in a Closet with Jim,” featured Comstock as her guest.

“I worked with producers to fabricate a freestanding pullout sewing center that extended 40 feet from a two-foot closet,” Comstock said. “It was Martha’s idea and took some effort to engineer.”

He said he appreciates the way she uses local artisans to execute her concepts.

Comstock worked with architect Ted Muller, who designed Laurence Rockefeller’s home in Woodstock, Vt. Comstock built bedside tables for Laurence and a makeup table for his wife.

“The house is now a national park and I look forward to seeing my furniture on exhibit,” Comstock said.

The Vanderbilt pieces were an example of a twist of fate. As a child, his parents took him to see the great mansions of Newport, and he was most impressed with The Breakers, a mansion on Ochre Point Avenue.

“Through life’s course of events, I ended up working for the Vanderbilts when I was asked to repair their game table that came from The Breakers,” Comstock said. “I wasn’t born to
wealth but dreamt of making nice things for them.”

He ended up constructing a vitrine to house a historic silver tooled comb and hairbrush
set and other artifacts that came from The Breakers.

When Jack Welch wanted to survey his spectacular view of Southport Harbor, Comstock was called in to make a special ladder that could go from the third floor to the rooftop for viewing the sunset.

“I built about the only thing he had to manually do in his house, because everything else
was automated, Comstock said. “The view was so beautiful that it raised the hair on your arms.”

Churches, cathedrals

Over the years, Comstock became a specialist in replicating millwork and pieces for churches.

In fact, he made a trip to England to study the traditional architecture of the local churches
and cathedrals. His projects range from replacing baptismal fonts to altering altars. He’s built lecterns, communal rails, carved doves and all of the nuances you’d expect to
see during a service, especially in high Episcopal churches. From Catholic to Congregational, he’s found a calling in this niche.

Churches on the roster of his work include Saint Bartholomew’s in New York City, Saint Paul’s in Fairfield, Saint Timothy’s in Fairfield, Trinity in Southport and The Congregational Church of Greenfield Hill.
This past month, Comstock was commissioned by Saint John’s in Darien to create an arched frame to mount a hand carved statue for a memorial to Sister Peggy that was being dedicated in her memory.

A parishioner of Saint Paul’s in Fairfield, Comstock frequently serves as chalice or usher and has donated his time on an extensive amount of work. He built a baptismal font to replicate the pulpit and alter rail as well as the choir robing room and coat racks.
He then was hired when there was a renovation project in 2002 that included a beamed ceiling in the parish hall. Gothic arches were closed in with casement windows that were hand carved grill work.

Problem Solving

“My favorite thing to do is problem solving,” Comstock said. One of his biggest rescue
operations involved a large table built in Italy. A single pedestal supported a 7-foot-by-14 foot tabletop with three leaves. The customer came to him for help when it started shrinking and developing cracks.

Comstock dismantled the table, salvaged the veneers and re-engineered the mechanism that would support 1,000 pounds.

Comstock also enjoys building cabinetry for home theaters and customized work centers. Being a father of three sons, he understands all the systems and components involved in creating a complete entertainment center with gaming and computers.

When it comes to design, Comstock said he was influenced by the work of Joseph Hoffman. The Austrian architect was a leader in the European arts and crafts movement before the
Mission style had even become popular.

“I find the early craftsman period both simple and sophisticated,” Comstock said. He reproduced Hoffman’s style in designing and building stores for Specs in Fairfield, Westport and Darien.

“When asked for references, I consider the stores to be a public showroom of my work, since much of it can only be seen in private homes,” he said.

Last year, Comstock was invited to participate in a designer show house at The Chimneys,
a 15,000-square-foot Georgian mansion in Black Rock that was built in the 1920s. He reproduced Hoffman’s 1898 bedroom furniture for a child’s room at the show house. This suite is now on display and available for purchase at Yankee Cabinetry in Westport.