Settle
Item
Title
Settle
Creator
Craftsman Workshops
Date
1911
Dimensions
60 1/2 x 69 1/2 x 23 inches
Medium
Chestnut, metal liner
Credit line
Collection of David and Susan Cathers
Description
One of two custom-built hall seats that flanked the fireplace in the Dining Room, the large form and shape of the back echoed and updated the Settle Stickley designed for his Columbus Avenue home in Syracuse. Eminently practical, both of these seats have hinged seats to allow for the storage of firewood and this example retains its original metal liner. Unlike the custom sideboard and corner cabinets, which use flat sawn oak as the primary wood, Stickley chose highly figured pieces of American Chestnut for these seats. Extolling the virtues of this wood in The Craftsman in July 1909, he wrote:
Next in rank to oak for use in large rooms comes chestnut, which is equally attractive in fiber and markings, has a color quality that is even better, and is plentiful, easily obtained and very reasonable as to cost. While it lacks something of the stateliness and durability of oak, chestnut is even more friendly because of the mellowness and richness of its color, which under very simple treatment takes on a luminous quality. Chestnut takes even more kindly than oak to the fuming process, because it contains a greater percentage of tannin and the texture of the wood itself is softer and more open.
Written at a time when he was planning (and perhaps building) the cottages on Craftsman Farms, it is easy to understand the extensive use of Chestnut throughout the interiors: the paneling and trim in all of the cottages and indeed the logs of the lower floor of the Log House are exclusively American Chestnut. More surprising, because of all of these points he raised, is that one does not find extensive use of Chestnut in his furniture, except at Craftsman Farms. In addition to these Hall Seats, the two large China Cabinets in the kitchen, a Dining Table for the porch, and 8 bookcases of various sizes in the Living Room were all made from this wood.
Next in rank to oak for use in large rooms comes chestnut, which is equally attractive in fiber and markings, has a color quality that is even better, and is plentiful, easily obtained and very reasonable as to cost. While it lacks something of the stateliness and durability of oak, chestnut is even more friendly because of the mellowness and richness of its color, which under very simple treatment takes on a luminous quality. Chestnut takes even more kindly than oak to the fuming process, because it contains a greater percentage of tannin and the texture of the wood itself is softer and more open.
Written at a time when he was planning (and perhaps building) the cottages on Craftsman Farms, it is easy to understand the extensive use of Chestnut throughout the interiors: the paneling and trim in all of the cottages and indeed the logs of the lower floor of the Log House are exclusively American Chestnut. More surprising, because of all of these points he raised, is that one does not find extensive use of Chestnut in his furniture, except at Craftsman Farms. In addition to these Hall Seats, the two large China Cabinets in the kitchen, a Dining Table for the porch, and 8 bookcases of various sizes in the Living Room were all made from this wood.
Relation
Provenance
Gustav Stickley (by 1911); sold to George and Sylvia Farny with the contents of the Log House (1917); by descent to Cyril Farny; Robert Judson Clark; collection of David Cathers.
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