This Baker chair shows a strong Empire influence. (LiveAuctioneers.com/DuMouchelles photo)

After the American Revolution ended in 1783, the fledgling country struggled to establish its new identity in a number of areas, including furniture style and design. It plowed through the Federal period—unabashedly using the ideas of English designers like Hepplewhite and Sheraton—and then climbed into the Empire period in the footsteps of Napoleon. When the English crown again beckoned, this time in the form of Queen Victoria, in the mid-19th century, American furniture styles reverted to customized versions of the European revival forms for most of the rest of the century. Until, that is, the Centennial Exposition in 1876, which ushered in the longest-lasting continuous furniture movement in American history: Colonial Revival, an appreciation of and interest in furniture styles and forms from the early years of this country as a colony of the English crown.

Philadelphia hosted the nation’s 100th birthday party in the form of a great exhibition of furniture and technology from across the country and around the world. While the most popular setting at the Exposition was the Japanese exhibit, and most of the American furniture on display was in the battleship-scale of the Renaissance Revival style, there was an awakening of interest in what American furniture had looked like 100 years before, when the country’s founding fathers had the nerve to start the struggle for independence.

In spite of the commercial success and public accolades of the Centennial Exhibition, sentiment at the grassroots level was still looking over its shoulder to the glorious Colonial past. An effort was made, by those who could, to surround themselves with articles from this era, attaching a new importance to history, value and integrity. This was the beginning of the Colonial Revival. It soon became apparent, however, that there were many more Victorians wanting to acquire Colonial antiques than there were actual Colonial antiques. In a collection of essays originally written for Scribner’s Monthly and published in book form in 1877 as “The House Beautiful,” Clarence Cook, a contemporary art critic, stated the obvious. He noted the shortage of genuine Colonial antiques and suggested that well executed reproductions would do just as well as the real thing. That opened the flood gates.

Hepplewhite SB full – This is a Colonial Revival Federal period sideboard made by Baker fashioned after a design by George Hepplewhite. Hepplewhite was an English designer whose work was popular in the United States in the late 1700s and early 1800s Federal period. He is best known for his design of the oval drawer pulls of the period that bear his name. (LiveAuctioneers.com/Lewis & Maese Auction Co photo)

This graceful Baker sideboard is also Hepplewhite style. (LiveAuctioneers.com/Pook & Pook photo)

While the two concepts would later seem to be at odds with each other, the revival of interest in colonial American furniture and colonial reproductions coincided with the advent of the basic tenets of the Arts and Crafts movement, a return to basic craftsmanship and honesty in construction techniques as espoused by William Morris, Charles Eastlake and Elbert Hubbard.

A number of companies such as Sypher & Company of New York and Potthast Brothers of Baltimore were making faithful reproductions of 18th-century items, often in bench-made fashion rather than on an assembly line. Some of the items were even completely hand done. By the 1920s, some small shops were also doing excellent work, such as Margolis in Hartford and of course Wallace Nutting in Massachusetts. But their work, while excellent, was limited in quantity and could not satisfy the growing demand for good work at a reasonable price in large volume.

These elegant baker Chippendale armchairs have square chamfered Marlborough legs and intricately detailed pierce carved splats. (LiveAuctioneers.com/Susanin’s Auction photo)

A pair of Baker Queen Anne style chairs with reverse scroll arms, patterned after a style from 1730-1750. The arms intensify the curvaceous design of the chairs. (LiveAuctioneers.com/Pook & Pook photo)

Then along came Hollis Baker, son of Siebe Baker, the Dutch immigrant who founded the firm of Cook and Baker in 1893 in Holland, Mich., near Grand Rapids. By 1925, the company was called Baker & Company and Hollis Baker was the president. He had a great interest in the Arts and Crafts movement and was especially interested in handcrafted furniture from the 18th century. But he saw the reality of the business situation and knew that whoever could solve the problem of combining the quality of handcrafted furniture with the practicalities of mass production would be very successful. In an article in “The Furniture Blue Book” in 1923, Baker wrote, “It is not so hard to make beautiful things where unlimited time and money can be spent. But to bring beauty within the reach of the average man is an even higher accomplishment. It is here that the opportunity lies in the furniture trade.”

And Baker attacked the opportunity with zeal. The company introduced a line of American reproduction furniture in 1922, a Duncan Phyfe suite in 1923 and furniture based on Pilgrim styling in 1926. The company was renamed Baker Furniture Factories in 1927 and began to specialize in high-quality, faithfully executed reproductions. Meanwhile, Baker traipsed all over Europe looking for examples that could be sent back to Holland and Grand Rapids as examples. By 1931, the company was producing a line of Georgian mahogany furniture called the “Old World Collection” and in 1932 opened the Manor House in New York City to produce top-of-the-line, handmade reproductions, faithful down to the dovetailing and finishing.

This Baker Regency style drum table was originally designed by Thomas Sheraton. The form was developed in the late 18th century based on the shape of a military drum with a deeper skirt for drawers. (LiveAuctioneers.com/Skinner photo)

This magnificent Federal period four-door breakfront by Baker is made of crotch cut mahogany veneer with satinwood inlay. It sold at auction for $3,250 in 2005. (LiveAuctioneers.com/S & S Auction photo)

In 1941, the company opened the Baker Museum for Furniture Research in Holland and provided a much-appreciated source of information on authentic furniture for researchers and collectors. In 1936, Colonial Williamsburg commissioned a line of reproductions to be made by Kittinger. When Kittinger was sold in 1991, Baker took over the Colonial Williamsburg license.

Thousands of American furniture manufacturers made and still make fine Colonial Revival furniture, but only a few made high-quality faithful reproductions. For more information about the Colonial Revival see, “Colonial Revival Furniture” by Lindquist and Warren, Wallace-Homestead. For more information about Baker furniture see “Fine Furniture Reproductions, 18th Century Revivals of the 1930s and 1940s,” published by Schiffer Publishing.

Fred Taylor is a antique furniture Worthologist who specializes in American furniture from the Late Classicism period (1830-1850).

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Send your comments, questions and pictures to me at PO Box 215, Crystal River, FL 34423 or info [at] furnituredetective [dot] com.

Visit Fred’s website at www.furnituredetective.com. His book “How To Be A Furniture Detective” is now available for $18.95 plus $3 shipping. Send check or money order for $21.95 to Fred Taylor, PO Box 215, Crystal River, FL 34423.

Fred and Gail Taylor’s DVD, “Identification of Older & Antique Furniture,” ($17 + $3 S&H) and a bound compilation of the first 60 columns of “Common Sense Antiques,” by Fred Taylor ($25 + $3 S&H) are also available at the same address. For more information call 800-387-6377, fax 352-563-2916, or e-mail info [at] furnituredetective [dot] com.

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The same kind of loose language approach has developed in the language of antique furniture. We have come to use proper names to describe a class or type of furniture and the use of these names have become so commonplace that sometimes the real people behind the generic names no longer exist. But I’m not talking about generally descriptive names that denote a large class or style of furniture, like Georgian or even George III. The Louis XV and Victorian labels fall in that same category. Even Chippendale and Eastlake fit here, but all these terms relate to a particular period or stylistic element.

I am referring to that select group of people for whom a very specific form of furniture has been named and the appellation has become so useful as to be generic. When you use the term no further explanation is necessary. Here are some examples of some generic uses of the names of real people.

Murphy Bed: In today’s market, almost any folding bed is called a “Murphy bed.” It is the Kleenex of beds. However, most folding beds are not Murphy beds at all. Murphy patented his first bed in 1900. Folding cabinet beds were very popular in the last quarter of the 19th century, well before Murphy was old enough to invent things.

This is a folding cabinet bed, not a Murphy bed.

Gov. Winthrop Desk: The story goes that the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 17th century, real man named John Winthrop, had a desk like this. Winthrop was born in England in 1588 and died in the Colony in 1649. This was at least 50 years before the drop front desk appeared in England and about 100 years before Thomas Chippendale gave it the famous form that commonly bears the governor’s name. In other words, Gov. Winthrop did not have a desk like this. So who is responsible for the name given to the form of the drop front desk? The Winthrop Furniture Company of Boston has that honor. The company introduced a new model of the desk in 1924 and called it the “Gov. Winthrop,” a clever play on words that has polluted the trade vocabulary for more than 80 years.

The real name for this form is not “Gov. Winthrop.” It is called a bookcase/secretary.

Breuer (not Brewer) Chair: This is the ubiquitous, bent chrome chair with separate seat and back, usually caned in modern pressed cane or “Viennese weaving,” as Marcel Breuer, the designer called it. Breuer was born in Hungary in 1902 and became an important part of the German Bauhaus school of design in the 1920s, where he helped shift the focus from “Arts & Crafts” to “Arts & Technology.” After stops in Paris and London, Breuer came to America in 1937, where his architectural skill was in the forefront for many years. The most reproduced of his works is the bent chrome chair, design #B32, but his most famous chair is the “Wassily” chair, #B3.

Beau Brummel: This a common name given to a form of dressing table made popular in late 18th century France when men paid as much or more attention to their dress and make up as women did. The form was actually known as a “poudreuse” meaning “powder” in French, or, in French slang, “duster of the man,” referring to the generous use of face powder in make up. It was a very rare example of the combination of an attached mirror and wooden case in the 18th century. Fixed mirrors were not usually a part of the dressing table until the early 19th century. The popularization of the poudreuse predated the heyday of the celebrated English dandy, George Bryan Brummel, 1778-1840, by several decades, but his name became associated with the form merely because of his notoriety.

This is a French poudreuse, commonly called a “Beau Brummel.”

Pembroke Table: The true origin of this form of drop leaf table is rather vague, but most people conveniently attribute it to the Countess of Pembroke, who reportedly ordered the first one in the 1750s or 1760s. Who actually designed it is up for further discussion, but Thomas Sheraton was so impressed he called it the universal table and Chippendale introduced one of the first designs with a drawer in 1766. It has been continuously produced for over 250 years and no matter what the style it is always called a “Pembroke.”

Sutherland Table: This last example is a variation of the Pembroke table. It has a flat middle section so narrow as to be unusable as a table until one or both of its deep drop leaves are opened. It was introduced in 1850, almost exactly100 years after the Pembroke form came to light and, interestingly enough, this form of table was named after Harriet Sutherland, who just coincidentally happened to be the Duchess of Pembroke at the time.

A Sutherland table with a very narrow top is also sometimes called a “tuckaway” table.

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Fred Taylor is a Worthologist who specializes in American furniture from the Late Classicism period (1830-1850).

Visit Fred’s website at www.furnituredetective.com. His book “How To Be A Furniture Detective” is now available for $18.95 plus $3 shipping. Send check or money order for $21.95 to Fred Taylor, PO Box 215, Crystal River, FL 34423.

Fred and Gail Taylor’s DVD, “Identification of Older & Antique Furniture,” ($17 + $3 S&H) and a bound compilation of the first 60 columns of “Common Sense Antiques,” by Fred Taylor ($25 + $3 S&H) are also available at the same address.

For more information call 800-387-6377, fax 352-563-2916, or e-mail info [at] furnituredetective [dot] com.

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Let’s start with one of North America’s oldest furniture styles, the so-called Pilgrim or Puritan style, beginning in the early 1600s. Most of the folks of this period were VERY recent arrivals and the furniture they crafted for themselves had a very familiar look to it. After taking into account what might be called “regional influences”—meaning the Colonies—the style itself is essentially “Jacobean,” that catch-all Latin term referring to England in the time of King James I, Charles I, the Commonwealth, the Restoration, Charles II and James II. In other words, most of the 17th century until William and Mary came along, circa. 1688. The furniture was blocky, big, solid, dark and ungainly, mostly made of oak—just like at home. The Colonists were true to their heritage.

Early in the 18th century the effects of the William and Mary reign became felt in American furniture thought. It took a few years to get here, but the Colonies always lagged behind, transportation being what it was. The Dutch craftsmen employed by William introduced a new, lighter, more comfortable form with bun—or Spanish—feet, elegant turnings and decorations and teardrop pulls, and they influenced Colonial furniture in turn. Some of America’s most prized antiques are Colonial interpretations of William and Mary.

This William & Mary highboy shows the verticality of the new form in the late 17th century.

After William’s death in 1702, Mary’s little sister Anne became Queen of England and the Colonies dutifully imported (belatedly of course) the newest style named after the new queen. The QA style was slim and elegant with graceful curves, subtle decoration, slipper or pad feet and valanced skirts, all in all a very feminine form. This English style also created some of America’s most cherished works.

Just as Thomas Chippendale borrowed the QA style in 1750, adding dog ears, pierced splats and heavy acanthus carving and calling it his own, the Colonies borrowed the new style from Thomas and used it right into the Revolution, being careful not to call it “Georgian,” as the later version of the style was known in England.

A Philadelphia chair circa 1776 shows the rococo changes Chippendale made to the basic Queen Anne chair.

At long last, the Revolution! Surely, this called for a new American styling and so it was called “Federal,” in honor of the new country based on federal, rather than royal principles. So who were the great designers and builders of America’s new furniture? Among the strong stylistic influences were George Hepplewhite and Thomas Sheraton, respected English designers of the period. Also prominent were the Adam brothers, Robert and James, Scottish architects greatly influenced by first century Roman architecture.

The end of a D-end Federal period banquet table shows the influence of Thomas Sheraton in the tapered legs.

On this side of the Atlantic, the best known practitioner of Federal was the Scotsman residing in New York named Duncan Phyfe, whose work was influenced by the early traditional English designers, but also by the Directoire and Empire of France and the Regency of England. Phyfe’s contemporary, Charles-Honore’ Lannuier, recently arrived from France and worked in the Directoire and later Empire field as his contribution to Federal furniture.

By the end of the first quarter of the 19th century, the facade of Federal had fallen to the unabashed Europhile Empire style; Napoleon’s only lasting positive contribution to the world. He had directed his architects to develop a new style for his “Empire,” which they enthusiastically did, combining classical motifs from Egypt and Greece with animistic additions such as carved animal feet and wings. Napoleon of course didn’t make it, but his style survived in England, modified only slightly, as Regency, and in America first as Empire and then in later versions as “Late Classicism” or “Restauration” as late as mid-century.

This classic Empire chair was made by Duncan Phyfe, circa 1820. (Daytona Museum of Arts and Sciences photo).

Victoria became queen of England in 1837, and that started a 60-year binge of digging up and recycling styles of the past, politely called “revivals” under the umbrella label of “Victorian,” and America joined the bandwagon. Major revivals of style included Rococo-Louis XV, the revival of a phase of European art of the 18th century featuring rocks (rocailles) and shells (coquilles), Renaissance, a revival of 15th and 16th century Italian styles, Gothic, a revival of 15th century styles which was itself a revival of the 9th century as well as other lesser known revivals.

This chair by Belter illustrates the decorative flavor of the Rococo Revival of the mid 19th century.

A Renaissance Revival bed, circa 1875, reflects the architectural element of the style.

It also included a newer form based on the architectural concepts of an Englishman named Charles Locke Eastlake, whose idea of linear simplicity was driven to absurdity by American factory designers.

A reaction to all this elaborate revival erupted in Europe in the late 19th century, led mainly by William Morris in England and produced the Arts and Crafts movement, quickly embraced in America by Elbert Hubbard who started the Roycroft colony in Aurora, New York, by the Stickley family and by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Thus, it appears that for most of America’s existence, we have mooched our styles from abroad. Then, at last, came the great American contribution to American furniture: In the latter part of the 19th century we started to reproduce our own borrowed history and in the process accidentally produced the one true American style—Colonial Revival.

This 1930s table shows the creative redesign of Colonial styles in this Colonial Revival Depression era interpretation of the Jacobean style. This was our new style.

Fred Taylor is a Worthologist who specializes in American furniture from the Late Classicism period (1830-1850).

Visit Fred’s website at www.furnituredetective.com. His book “How To Be A Furniture Detective” is now available for $18.95 plus $3 shipping. Send check or money order for $21.95 to Fred Taylor, PO Box 215, Crystal River, FL 34423.

Fred and Gail Taylor’s DVD, “Identification of Older & Antique Furniture,” ($17 + $3 S&H) and a bound compilation of the first 60 columns of “Common Sense Antiques,” by Fred Taylor ($25 + $3 S&H) are also available at the same address.

For more information call 800-387-6377, fax 352-563-2916, or e-mail info [at] furnituredetective [dot] com.

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