Seat
Item
Title
Seat
Creator
Craftsman Workshops
Date
1912-17 (ca.)
Dimensions
90 x 18 x 18 inches
Medium
Oak with cedar interior and later copper hardware
Object No.
1995.46
Credit line
Anonymous Gift
Marks
Branded mark and corresponding paper label on bottom.
Description
Long known as a "shirtwaist box" at the museum, the title of this object has been changed as a result of ongoing research into the original objects in the Log House. Formally, this is an oversized version of Shirtwaist Box (no. 95), a form Stickley advertised as “very convenient if placed where it can be used as a window or fireside seat in a bedroom," but the sheer size of it makes it unlikely to have been used in that manner.
Although we are not precisely sure where this form was placed during Stickley's ownership of Craftsman Farms, the plans published in The Craftsman and the 1917 inventory provide some clues. In the plans of the second floor of the Log House published in 1911, Stickley illustrated a "seat" beneath the north window of the Master Bedroom, yet there is no evidence that a large, built-in seat as drawn in the plans was ever installed. Instead, it appears as though this form–probably with a cushion on top–was placed underneath that window. This is consonant with the 1917 inventory, which lists an "upholstered seat" in that bedroom at the time of the sale to the Farny Family.
Although we are not precisely sure where this form was placed during Stickley's ownership of Craftsman Farms, the plans published in The Craftsman and the 1917 inventory provide some clues. In the plans of the second floor of the Log House published in 1911, Stickley illustrated a "seat" beneath the north window of the Master Bedroom, yet there is no evidence that a large, built-in seat as drawn in the plans was ever installed. Instead, it appears as though this form–probably with a cushion on top–was placed underneath that window. This is consonant with the 1917 inventory, which lists an "upholstered seat" in that bedroom at the time of the sale to the Farny Family.
While we are currently unable to know precisely where it was, we can say with certainty that we know where it wasn't: alongside the railing in the upstairs hall where most visitors are used to seeing it. A condition report of the seat from 1990 noted that the back was quite faded as the result of sun exposure a phenomenon that could not have occurred in the hall.
Associated names
Gustav Stickley
Provenance
Gustav Stickley; sold with the contents of the Log House to George and Sylvia Farny (1917); by descent to Cyril Farny; private collection (by 1992); Anonymous gift to the Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms.