CLASSIC AMERICAN FURNITURE STYLES

QUEEN ANNE

Spanning most of the first half of the 18th Century, the Queen Anne style was both influential and original, characterized by refined, flowing lines without excessive dec­oration. In chair and table making, the style spawned an important innovation: the cabriole leg. Queen Anne designs migrated to America after becoming well established in England. The style eventually found a home in Philadelphia, the colonies’ most important cabinet­making center. Queen Anne furni­ture remained popular in America long after it was superceded in England by the early Georgian style.

CHIPPENDALE

Named after British master carver and furniture designer Thomas Chippendale, this style emerged in the second half of the 18th Century. It is often thought of as Queen Anne dressed up with orna­mentation such as shell carvings, intricate fretwork, piecrust edging, and other elements of rococo or Chinese design. The style flour­ished in the American cabinet­making centers of Boston, New York, Newport, and Philadelphia, with each center developing its own signature. Philadelphia Chippendale was the most extrav – agent in its carved detail, while in edging New York the style was more restrained. In Boston, the bombe – shaped chest was popular. Newport helped popularize a uniquely American form: the block-front.

SATINWOOD

COMMODE

The bombe shape was typical of the Soston style

An American adaption of the Chippendale style

FEDERAL PERIOD After the Revolution, American furniture makers began to distance themselves from British influence. Endeavoring to create a new style, they turned to the classical designs of ancient Greece and Rome. For this reason, Federal furni­ture is often called “Neoclassical.” More austere than Chippendale, Federal pieces typically mimicked the lines and features of antiquity, such as columns, animal claws, reeding, fluting, and the lyre. Despite efforts to achieve indepen­dence, however, American cabinetmak­ers remained under British influence. The designs of Englishmen George Hepplewhite and Thomas Sheraton were widely circulated and copied in America, although some New World designers attempted to Americanize the British styles by incorporating the eagle and other patriotic motifs.

WORK TABLE Though delicate in appearance, the table was solid enough to support a heavy marble top

CARD TABLE

Eagle/ military motif

Designed to fit below a recessed window, the aptly named window seat, like the one shown above, was a popular Federal period design. The cross-lattice pattern of the raised ends is typical of the best – known Federal designer, Duncan Phyfe.

PHYFE ARMCHAIR Marked by a Oheraton-style rectangular back and delicately crossed back slats

Fluting

AMERICAN COUNTRY/COLONIAL

Using local wood species and unsophis­ticated construction methods, colonial America’s pioneers adapted traditional country designs from England to produce simple, practical furniture known as American Country.

Although more sophisticated styles supplanted these designs in prosperous colonial towns, rustic furniture prevailed on the ever-advancing frontier. With its simplicity, durability, and economy, tra­ditional American Country furniture continues to appeal to 20th-Century furniture makers, particularly those liv­ing in rural America.

An ingenious response to cramped conditions, the chair table shown above serves double duty. With the tilted-up top against a wall, the piece can be used as a chair. Lowering the top transforms it into a table.

CUPBOARD AND HUTCH Variations on this design were com­monly made in America between 1730 and 1340

CORNER CUPBOARD

H

Wrought-iron strap hinge

Wood turnbuckie

Trestie tabie A iarge tabietop supported by legs and a tres­tle-, tusk or pinned tenons join legs to the trestle, allowing easy disassembly

WINDSOR

The Windsor chair (page 70) is often classified with American Country furniture because its simple and precise joinery and functional elegance harken back to the craftsmanship of a bygone era. But the Windsor is neither American nor rural. First made in late 17th-Century England, it is one of the most enduring and popu­lar of all chair designs. The Windsor family also includes stools, cradles, stands, and tables.

Although the Windsor chair has spawned countless variations, virtually all versions feature a solid seat, which anchors separate assemblies of turned legs and a spindle back.

REGIONAL STYLES

Like the early settlers from England, newcomers to America from other parts of the world brought their unique cabinetmaking traditions with them. From the Dutch who founded New Amsterdam to the Zoarite Germans who settled in Ohio, the new arrivals

NEW MEXICAN CHAIR

Made by Spanish “Carpinteros," this chair reflects both Spanish and native – American influences; extensive chip carving served to lighten the look of the heavy timber used in the assembly.

ZOAR CHAIR

A simple country chair, based on models originally made in Germany, Austria and Switzerland; often called a “two-board chair”

GERMAN SAWBUCK TABLE A typical German design found in many regions of Pennsylvania; such a sturdy design that many 200-year-old examples remain in usable condition

SHAKER

The Shakers were a puritanical religious sect that prospered in the 1800s, mainly in New England, New York State, and the Midwest. They lived in isolation from society on self-sufficient farms. Shaker furniture is practical, functional, and austere—without extravagance or ornamentation—but attractive in its simplicity. Shaker design prin­ciples continue to inspire modern funiture makers.

Like other Shaker pieces, the drop – leaf table shown above owes its beauty to its clean lines and com­plete devotion to function. With its leaves extended, the table can seat four people. When the entire sur­face is not needed, the leaves can be dropped down and the table stored compactly up against a wall.

STEP STOOL

Assembled with through dovetails, these mini- stepladders enabled Shakers to reach the top shelves and doors of floor-to-ceiling casework; three – and four-step ver- ] sions were also common

MISSION

The Mission style is an offshoot of the Arts and Crafts movement that evolved in England as a reaction to the stylistic excesses of the Victorian period and to the decline in crafts­manship caused by the Industrial Revolution. Led by designers like Gustav Stickley, American furniture makers adopted preindustrial work methods to create functional, un­adorned furniture. Mission-style pieces featured exposed joints, native wood species (often oak) and a gen­erally more rustic look. Mission fur­niture greatly influenced major architects such as Charles and Henry Greene and Frank Lloyd Wright

MISSION ARMCHAIR

Gustav Stickley sought to cre­ate simple, durable and com­fortable furniture; this piece features straightforward, rec­tilinear designs, exposed joinery and modest materials