The Antique Victorian Furniture Blog

Here’s some intriguing news. Kim Palmer of the Minneapolis Star Tribune has written an article on the recent appearance of Victorian elements of style in modern furniture design and home décor. “Victorian furniture is making a comeback,” we are told.

From avant-garde Dutch designer Maarten Bass and his “Smoke” chaise, to online retailer Brocade Home with their mass-marketed ornately carved beds, to Pottery Barn with their dragonfly bottle stoppers, Victorian is back in vogue.

Evidently it’s not so much nostalgia for the Victorian era itself as a return to femininity in high-tech times. Along with heavily carved furniture and mirror frames, we are seeing art with religious undertones, a shift in color from reds and greens to plums and pinks, and the reemergence of the silhouette.

A return to femininity? I don’t think there’s enough femininity left in our society to return to. But if Victorian elements are being put into pieces of furniture manufactured for the mass market, I’m left to wonder what the trickle-down effect will be on real antique Victorian furniture.

You’ll find the article here.

Technorati Tags: Beds, Bottle Stoppers, Chaise, Decor, Furniture, Home, Mirror, Style, Victorian

If you feel that you really belong in the 19th century rather than the 21st, you‘re not alone. A woman named Barbara Johnson, who lives in northern Baltimore County, is so sure of it that she has transported the interior of her 5,500-square-foot home back to Victorian times.

A recent article in the Baltimore Sun tells us that Mrs. Johnson has been reinventing her home ever since she and her husband bought it newly-built back in 1991. Today it’s full of antiques and collectibles such as toys, photographs, china and, yes, furniture.

The original dining room is now a train room showcasing a “Department 56 Snow Village” with over 30 buildings, trees, carousels, a snow covered mountain and sledding children. Her living room has become her parlor, with a camelback sofa and loveseat.

The living and dining area has been shifted into an elegant addition at the back of the house. The article says that the design and décor of this space is breathtaking. It features velvet draperies, two crystal chandeliers, and a 13-foot mahogany table that seats 18.

Where did Mrs. Johnson get her inspiration? She does have an interior decorator, but she also says that the key to decorating is to “create a presence; to go inside yourself for some kind of feeling.”

Click here to read the article and see some photos of the presence she’s created in her home.

Technorati Tags: 19th Century, Antiques, Chandeliers, Decoration, Dining Room, Furniture, Home, Loveseat, Parlor, Photographs, Sofa, Table, Victorian

On December 4 I wrote about a blog called A Victorian Passage Into Time, and I promised to share what I found there. How about some advice on how to furnish the parlor of your Victorian home?

The quote provided in this particular post instructs you to choose furniture with comfort rather than style in mind. If you want a “serviceable” wood for the frame, select ebony, oak, walnut, cherry, or mahogany. Think Turkish if you want keep up with the times.

Sets and pairs are out, but you can never go wrong with two easy-chairs placed opposite to one another. Put your divan in a central location, but forget about that marble-topped center table. If you read the passage you’ll also find out how to make your mantel mirror look effective.

What do you think about the date of this advice? It sounds rather late doesn’t it? Indeed, it comes from a work called Useful Information for Ladies, dating to 1897.

Click here to get the full story on how to arrange your antique Victorian furniture to its best effect in your parlor.

I myself unfortunately don’t have a parlor. I wish I did. Life without parlors is hopelessly unsociable and modern.

Technorati Tags: Chairs, Cherry, Divan, Ebony, Furniture, Mahogany, Mirror, Oak, Parlor, Table, Victorian, Walnut

The Press-Enterprise ran an article this past Saturday about a home in Riverside, CA that will be featured in an 8-page spread in the February issue of Victorian Homes magazine. The home, purchased four years ago in ramshackle condition by Tony and Wilma Burton, now “looks like it’s out of a fairy tale,” says Merrie Destefano, editor of Victorian Homes.

The home was built in 1893 by Civil War veteran David Gilson Mitchell, a founding father of Riverside County. The Burtons didn’t know its story when they bought the house, but they studied their history and then put over $100,000 into the restoration of the home. They purchased 19th century furnishings in antique stores, at estate sales, and on eBay.

The Burtons now live upstairs and “keep the first floor as a museum.” A photo of the dining room would suggest that this delightful “museum” is quite full of antique Victorian furniture. The music room features a period fainting couch, called by Victorian Homes an “ode in oak to Eastlake.”

We’ll have to wait for the February issue of Victorian Homes to get the full story. In the meantime, here’s the article from The Press-Enterprise.

Technorati Tags: Antique, Couch, Eastlake, Furniture, History, Home, Homes, Oak, Restoration, Victorian

Here’s another article out of the UK on the state of the market for antique furniture. Unlike the article I linked to yesterday, this one, which comes from the Telegraph, takes a negative view.

This makes the second article I’ve found that paints a gloomy picture of the Victorian furniture market, and the first negative one to come from the UK. Yesterday’s article and the one from the post on October 25 were both from the UK and both positive. Today’s sounds more like the one from November 27, which predicted a permanent collapse in the market for antique Victorian furniture.

And it would appear to blow up my theory about British Victorian being in a stronger position than American Victorian.

Here are some things the article says. Prices are at their lowest level in ten years. The 90s were boom years, but things have gone downhill since the 9/11 attacks. Collectors are selling off pieces to pay off debts. Many dealers are thinking of throwing in the towel. It could be a good time to buy if you could wait 20 years for prices to recover. Business at auctions is up because so many people are selling. The low prices are actually attracting a new generation of buyer.

The article provides a list of specific pieces, with their prices a decade ago vs. their prices today. Here are a few that may interest you (prices are in British pounds):

• Victorian Pembroke Table (200 in 1998, 50 today)
• Victorian Dining Room Table with Braided Legs (800 in 1998, 175 today)
• Victorian Chesterfield Sofa (400 in 1998, 75 today)
• Set of Six Victorian Dining Room Chairs (900 in 1998, 300 today)

The article does not give its sources for this information, by the way, so it’s probably based on the word of a few dealers. Not all dealers are struggling in this market, by the way. On November 25 I linked to an article about a man who recently opened an antique shop in the economically devastated city of Detroit. He’s now enjoying great success selling high end antiques and also selling online.

Perhaps it’s the case that the market got overinflated, much like the housing market. If a new generation of buyer is now able to afford pieces previously out of sight, Victorian furniture could be getting a whole new life. Out of the hands of investors and speculators and into the hands of people who actually live with it and appreciate it?

More on this topic to come, I’m sure. We’re getting quite a variety of messages.

Here’s the article.

Technorati Tags: Antique, Chairs, Collectors, Dealers, Furniture, Market, Sofa, Table, Victorian

This post is the third I’ve written on the current state of the antique market in general and the market for antique Victorian furniture in particular.

On October 25 I linked to an article that was bullish on antiques and called Victorian antiques an upwardly mobile investment. Then on November 27 I posted on an article that told us the opposite, that Victorian furniture was going permanently into the tank.

Well, the bulls are back today. An article from The Press and Journal out of the UK, entitled “Antiques new way to beat slump,” tells us that antiques are “bucking the global downturn.” People are taking advantage of the slump and buying up items in the hopes that their value will turn around. Now’s the time to buy antiques, we’re told.

And here’s news for us. Sales of Victorian furniture are on the rise, and you can get the real thing for less than reproductions at the moment.

What do you make of these different messages? It’s interesting that the two bullish articles are from the UK, while the bearish one is from the US. Two separate markets perhaps? Is British Victorian on the rise while American Victorian sags?

Obviously an ongoing story that we need to stay on top of.

Here’s the link to the article in The Press and Journal.

Technorati Tags: Antique, Antiques, Economy, Furniture, Investment, Market, Victorian

Sometimes antique Victorian furniture can become the inspiration for something that isn’t exactly Victorian.

The Hartford Courant ran an article two days ago about a couple who left their suburban home in favor of a downtown condo. They bought the condo on the basis of architectural drawings alone but were depressed when they actually saw it. It was smaller than they thought.

They hired a designer to expand the sense of size and otherwise make the condo reflect their own tastes. The result, from the one photo provided, is colorful, contemporary and chic.

The starting point for the whole design, however, was a Victorian sofa handed down from the woman’s grandmother, a sofa with a “curving spine and petite proportions.” They chose a fabric, reupholstered the sofa, and allowed the rest of the condo’s design to follow. The overall effect is not exactly Victorian, as I mentioned. But it’s quite striking.

And it’s interesting to think that such a contemporary design could flow from the curving spine of a Victorian antique.

You’ll find the article on this colorful condo and its inspirational sofa here.

Technorati Tags: Architecture, Design, Reupholstery, Sofa, Victorian

Unable to resist articles about holiday events in Victorian homes (see my post on December 3), I came across this article in the Holland Sentinel about a Victorian Christmas Tea being offered at the Cappon House in Holland, Michigan. The event promises to be a step back in time for the attendees, with authentic Victorian delicacies being made according to period recipes. There will even be a pianist in period attire playing the popular tunes of 1900. But something else in the article caught my eye.

This house, built in 1873 for Dutch immigrant Isaac Cappon, a wealthy tannery owner as well as Holland’s first mayor, remained in the Cappon family all the way up to 1980. As a result, it is now “furnished with one of the country’s largest collections of early Grand Rapids furniture in its original setting.”

I took a look at the three photographs provided with the article. I was charmed by the sitting room and amazed by the massive mirror over the mantle. That was enough to set me off on the trail, and I found the site for the Holland Museum, run by the Holland Historical Trust, which owns the contents of the mansion somehow in coordination with the City of Holland.

On this page of the site you’ll see a photo of the exterior of the home. The house was designed by another Dutch immigrant, Jan R. Kleyn, in the Italianate style. It’s impressive, to say the least.

The first link provided from this page is Preserving the Past. Following the link we come to a page that gives the history of Isaac Cappon and his family. Mr. Cappon had eleven children by his first wife and five by his second (the housekeeper). Good thing he lived in a mansion!

Most of the furniture in the home came from Berkey & Gay and Nelson, Matter & Co., “two of the most significant early Grand Rapids furniture companies.” Both companies, along with a third Grand Rapids firm, won awards at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876.

Berkey & Gay supplied the mirror, parlor suite, center table, drapery and corner cornice for the parlor, the master bedroom suite, and the parlor suite and bookcase for the sitting room. There are a number of pictures provided on this page, one of which is a close-up of the arm of a Berkey & Gay chair. Photographs taken of the Berkey & Gay showroom back in 1870 show a mirror identical to the one over the mantle and chairs similar to the ones in the sitting room.

Another link to follow is Lessons from the Parlor. This page, along with providing two shots of the parlor, talks about how the furnishings of this particular room and of the home in general teach a lesson of immigration and assimilation during the Victorian era of 19th century America. This is a thoughtful little article, more insightful than much of what you get on museum promo pages.

I hope you enjoy all this. It falls right in line with my general endeavor to put antique Victorian furniture back into its own era. My compliments to the Holland Museum for their achievements in doing the same!

Technorati Tags: 19th Century, Antiques, Beds, Chair, Furniture, Grand Rapids, Home, House, Mirror, Table, Victorian

I have just stumbled onto a very rich blog called A Victorian Passage Into Time. To date the blog contains 129 articles on a broad range of topics, including much on Victorian furniture and household furnishings in general.

Here’s a quote from the blog’s note of welcome: “Most of our growing archive of Victorian Era subjects are taken directly from the 19th century sources to achieve a closer look into how our ancestors really lived.” That’s good news! Needless to say, I plan to spend some time over there and to post on the articles that’ll interest us here at The Antique Victorian Furniture Blog. At a glance, it looks like there are quite a few.

In the meantime, here’s the link if you’d like to follow this passage back into Victorian times yourself.

A Victorian Passage Into Time

Technorati Tags: 19th Century, Furnishings, Furniture, Victorian

There are a lot of articles coming out these days announcing holiday home tours. It’s interesting how many of the homes in these tours are Victorian. But then, as yesterday’s post discusses, the Victorian era taught us how to celebrate Christmas, right down to the Christmas tree.

Here’s one article from the York News-Times about a woman in York, Nebraska named Vina Mody, who for 20 years has been decorating her Victorian mansion for the annual Holiday Tour of Homes. She sets up over 100 Christmas trees in her home! It takes her a month to get ready for the tour and another month to break it all back down. She says this will be her last year though. She can’t handle it anymore. So if you’re in the York area this coming Sunday, you’ll want to catch Vina’s final display.

Here’s another article, this one from the Tyler Paper in Tyler, Texas. This weekend’s tour in Tyler features a number of homes, one of which is an 1891 Victorian known as “The Judge Parker Home,” owned by David and Alva Kesler. If you only have a couple minutes, scroll down to the description of this home. It tells us that the Keslers have painstakingly worked to restore the house to its “Victorian splendor.” Indeed. Wait until you read this.

Just a taste here. The “judge’s den” has been converted into the master bedroom, complete with a four poster bed in brown silk, sitting in the center of the room on an antique rug. In the corner is a mahogany dresser with cheval mirror, circa 1890.

The article takes you room by room, and although there are no photos, the writing is good enough to allow you to visualize it yourself.

Maybe won’t be able to make it to York, NE or Tyler, TX this weekend. But is there a holiday tour of Victorian homes in your area? You never know. It could be your opportunity to see some splendid pieces of antique Victorian furniture while you’re getting into the Christmas spirit.

Technorati Tags: Bed, Christmas, Dresser, Homes, Mahogany, Tours, Trees, Victorian