20th Century Elegant Black Bureau Plat / Writing Desk in Louis XV, Beech
Located in Berlin, DE
Slightly protruding, profiled tabletop and gold-embossed and high-quality leather insert (real leather). Very nice chased corner fittings. This desk is also perfect as a reception ...
Bronze
20th Century Elegant Black Bureau Plat / Writing Desk in Louis XV, Beech
Located in Berlin, DE
Slightly protruding, profiled tabletop and gold-embossed and high-quality leather insert (real leather). Very nice chased corner fittings. This desk is also perfect as a reception ...
Bronze
20th Century Elegant Veneered Bureau Plat/Writing Desk in Louis XV Style
Located in Berlin, DE
Slightly protruding, profiled table top and gold-embossed and high-quality leather insert (real leather). Very nice chased corner fittings. This desk is also perfect as a reception...
Bronze
20th Century Elegant Veneered Bureau Plat/Writing Desk in Louis XV Style
Located in Berlin, DE
Slightly protruding, profiled table top and gold-embossed and high-quality leather insert (real leather). Very nice chased corner fittings. This desk is also perfect as a reception...
Bronze
Ralph Lauren "Brook St "Ebonized Bureau Plat Desk w/Gilt Embossed Leather Top
By Ralph Lauren
Located in Miami, FL
The ends of the desk have pull-out work extensions. The frame is supported by tapered fluted legs that rise to extended rounded corners on the top.
Leather, Wood
McGuire Rattan Oak Knee Hole Writing Table Desk
By McGuire
Located in Rio Vista, CA
Supported by splayed rattan legs on each corner giving the desk an Asian bamboo look. Finished on all sides, from an estate in San Francisco, CA.
Faux Bamboo, Rattan, Oak
Lane Altavista “First Edition” Tambour Door Bookcase Front Kneehole Writing Desk
By Lane Furniture
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Tambour doors slide from the back to the rear corners of the desk as pictured. The banded top displays beautiful wood grain with clean modernist lines.
Teak, Walnut
Walnut Executive Desk St. Francis Hotel San Francisco, Early to Mid-20th Century
Located in San Francisco, CA
Unique executive walnut desk with decorative corner spiral columns, moulded panels on three sides, gadrooned base above four large lion paw feet.
Walnut
Maison Jansen Bronze Mounted Bureau Plat Cartonnier with Lighted Sconces
By Maison Jansen
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Beautifully detailed Louis XVI style bureau plat desk with side cabinet by Maison Jansen. Fabricated from walnut with reeded legs, embossed tooled black leather writing top and turre...
Gold Leaf
Vintage Regency Style Galleried Partners Desk / Server with Turret Corners
Located in West Palm Beach, FL
Vintage Beacon Hill small partner's desk / server with brass gallery and turret corners.
Mahogany
Vintage Military Campaign Twin Pedestal Desk with Brown Inlaid Leather Top
Located in Pulborough, GB
It features a small cable hole on the top right corner of the desk, which always comes in handy and the middle drawer is designed to put a keyboard.
Hardwood
Bronze-Mounted Ebony Maison Jansen Style Centre Desk with Fine Bronze Mounts
By Maison Jansen
Located in Stamford, CT
A bronze-mounted Maison Jansen style centre desk with fine bronze mounts. The custom quality tapering legs having bronze sabots and bronze terminals with bronze corners.
John Hutton designed Ivory Crackle glaze Mid-Century Two-Drawer Desk
By John Hutton
Located in Larkspur, CA
The thick top has canted detailing in the corners. This desk was designed by John Hutton in the 1970s for Randolph and Hein in San Francisco.
Sold|$2,800
Maple Faux Bamboo Corner Desk
By R.J. Horner & Co.
Located in Stamford, CT
This rare and unusual piece will fit snugly into any corner of your house! Whether it be a sitting room, a study, a library or even a bedroom, this beautifully crafted writing table...
Maple
Vintage Mid Century Modern Curved Corner Desk
Located in Hudson, NY
This sleek, stylish desk is designed to fit snugly into any corner. The ebonized apron holds three roomy drawers and is topped by an African Padauk wood writing surface.
Corner Desk/Cabinet by Rudolph Schindler for Basia Gingold
Located in Hollywood, CA
A small painted wood desk with additional storage that fits snuggly into a corner designed by Rudolph Schindler.
Thomas Newhouse Herman Miller desk Mid Century Style Cherry L Shaped Corner Desk
By Georg Jensen
Located in East Hampton, NY
Mid Century Style Desk by Thomas Newhouse for Herman Miller, Danish Modern Design, Three Piece Cherry Wood Desk, in an L shaped design, with an additional flip-up leaf. The desk has ...
Cherry
Mid-Century Jules Wabbes, Mutenyé Wood Corner Writing Desk Belgium, 1950s
By Jules Wabbes
Located in Brussels , BE
Jules Wabbes, corner writing desk, mutenyé, nickel-plated metal, Belgium, 1957.
Metal
Midcentury Shaw Walker Tanker Desk with Linoleum Top and Steel Corner Bumpers
By Shaw Walker
Located in Madison, WI
Midcentury Tanker desk with Linoleum top and steel corner bumpers.
Steel
Mid CenturyDesk, Industrial Light Steel with Brass Corners
Located in Port Chester, NY
A French industrial desk from the 50's, one center drawer. Interesting brass corners.
Brass, Steel
Victorian Walnut Corner Bureau in Queen Anne Style
Located in Heathfield, East Sussex
A beautifully made and rare walnut corner bureau. In Queen Anne style having a fall front which reveals pigeon holes and two small drawers and a central cupboard. The cupboard being ...
Brass
1940's Cerused Oak Writing Table with Canted Corners
Located in New York, NY
Inset Leather Top
Wood
Sold|$2,500
MIRRORED DESK / WRITING TABLE
Located in St.amford, CT
Legs are three sided, with a curved front, and straight sides in back of each leg. Corners of desk top are rounded.
Metal
Sold|$6,800
1970's Lucite Desk
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Stunning design - radius corners, clear and white lucite desk from the 1970's.
Lucite
Sold|$6,000
Anglo-Indian Rosewood Writing Desk
Located in Richmond, CA
Turned wood legs and carving details on the desk corners.
Brass
Sold|$1,750
Restored Vintage Faux Bamboo Desk
Located in West Palm Beach, FL
White Lacquered Faux Bamboo Desk with octagonal corners. Two drawers with brass pulls.
Wood
Sold|$3,362
Art Deco Walnut Desk, circa 1930
Located in Paddock Wood, Kent
Art Deco walnut desk, circa 1930 A good sized Art Deco desk that has two doors to the front with drawers behind the left and slides behind the right, the desk is excellent quality w...
Walnut
Sold|$5,800
Ladies Writing Desk Louis XVI Style
Located in New Haven, CT
Ormolu mountings surround each drawer, including the feaux drawers on the backside and protect the top edge and the corners of the legs. The desk is meant to be freestanding.
Kingwood
Sold|$11,700
William IV Canted Corner Writing Table
Located in New York, NY
Unusual William IV Mahogany Writing Table with Canted Corners, Both Front and Back Apron Finished with Draw Pulls, One Front Drawer, England, circa 1850
39 inches lon...
Mahogany, Leather
1940s Italian Walnut, Opaline Glass & Brass Desk
Located in Aspen, CO
Beautiful brass leaf embellishments on drawers and corners of desk. 2 Drawers. The desk is completely unique It is walnut and brass and black opaline glass It is completely finished...
Brass
Sold|$8,932
Cerused Walnut Pedestal Desk, England c.1900
Located in Houston, TX
All four corners of the desk itself as well as the top have a rounded edge that softens the appearance and the base of the desk is slightly raised to conceal the original casters set...
Wood, Leather
Terni Desk by Ico Parisi for MIM Roma, Italian, 1958
By Ico Parisi, Mobili Italiani Moderni (MIM)
Located in Bruges, West-Flanders
Executive desk with corner element designed by Ico Parisi in 1958 for MIM Roma.
Aluminum
Teak Mid-Century Modern Secretary Desk + Tambour Storage, Made in Denmark
By Bernhard Pedersen & Son
Located in Weehawken, NJ
Great vintage condition except for a repair to the corner of the drop down desk (as pictured).
Wood, Teak
Victorian Burr Walnut and Tooled Leather Twin Pedestal Desk by T Crunden & Sons
Located in London, GB
A Victorian burr walnut twin pedestal desk with hand tooled black leather writing surface above three frieze drawers and three further graduated drawers to each pedestal .The right h...
Walnut
Sold|$3,745
French Louis XV-Style Desk
Located in Los Angeles, CA
There are three drawers with decorative brass handles and molding accents. The corners of the desk and tops of the sturdy cabriole legs are adorned with ornate brass accents of leave...
Brass, Ormolu
Sold|$2,400
Petite Writing Table
Located in Washington, DC
Chinese Elmwood Square Cornered Two Drawer Desk with original hardware, floor stretchers ending in hoof feet.
Elm
Sold|$10,000
Large French Empire Doctor's Suite
Located in Pasadena, CA
Busts of women adorn the corners of the desk and three-door bookcase. Bookcase interior is oak with adjustable shelves.
Mahogany, Leather, Velvet, Mohair
Sold|$12,500
Exclusive Bauhaus Style Desk
Located in Senden, NRW
Bauhaus corner desk. Simple body language und straight lines determine the design of this great piece of furniture!
Sold|$2,219
Midcentury Desk
Located in London, GB
Midcentury desk. Beautiful small midcentury corner desk. Satinwood finish, the drawer trimmed with brass, the legs also having brass feet.
Satinwood, Teak
Sold|$3,400
19th Century French Colonial Rosewood Desk
Located in San Marino, CA
A handsome 19th century French Colonial rosewood desk with two corner drawers that have a curve to them, and one central drawer.
Burl
Sold|$5,876
Baker Egyptian Style Writing Desk Table
By Baker Furniture Company
Located in Sarasota, FL
Having a scalloped edge design to each corner. Three panel leather desk top embossed and trimmed in gold leaf pattern design.
Hardwood
Sold|$4,175
Midcentury Campaign-Style Mahogany Desk
Located in Los Angeles, CA
The corners of the drawers and desk have brass accents and the drawers have brass hardware.
Brass
Early 20th Century Ebonized Campaign-Style Desk
Located in Los Angeles, CA
The desk has three-drawer with brass drawer pulls and brass accents on the desk corners.
Brass
Choosing the perfect writing desk or writing table is a profoundly personal journey, one that people have been embarking upon for centuries.
Queen Atossa of Persia, from her writing table circa 500 B.C., is said to have been the originator of the art of handwritten letters. Hers was reportedly the first in a long and colorful history of penned correspondence that grew in popularity alongside literacy. The demand for suitable writing desks, which would serve the composer of the letters as well as ensure the comfort of the recipient naturally followed, and the design of these necessary furnishings has evolved throughout history.
Once people began to seek freedom from the outwardly ornate styles of the walnut and rosewood writing desks and drafting tables introduced in the name of Queen Victoria and King Louis XV, radical shifts occurred, such as those that materialized during the Art Nouveau period, when designers longed to produce furniture inspired by the natural world’s beauty. A prime example is the work of the famous late-19th-century Spanish architect Antoni Gaudí — his rolltop desk featured deep side drawers and was adorned with carved motifs that paid tribute to nature. Gaudí regularly combined structural precision with decorative elements, creating beautiful pieces of furniture in wood and metal.
Soon afterward, preferences for sleek, geometric, stylized forms in furniture that saw an emphasis on natural wood grains and traditional craftsmanship took hold. Today, Art Deco desks are still favored by designers who seek to infuse interiors with an air of luxury. One of the most prominent figures of the Art Deco movement was French decorator and furniture designer Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann. With his use of neoclassical motifs as well as expensive and exotic materials such as imported dark woods and inlays of precious metals for his writing desks, Ruhlmann came to symbolize good taste and modernity.
The rise in appreciation for Scandinavian modernism continues to influence the design of contemporary writing desks. It employs the “no fuss” or “less is more” approach to creating a tasteful, sophisticated space. Sweden’s master cabinetmaker Bruno Mathsson created gallery-worthy designs that are as functional as they are beautiful. Finnish architect Alvar Aalto never viewed himself as an artist, but, like Mathsson, his furniture designs reflected a fondness for organic materials and a humanistic approach. Danish designers such as Hans Wegner introduced elegant shapes and lines to mid-century desks and writing tables, often working in oak and solid teak.
From vintage desks to contemporary styles, 1stDibs offers a broad spectrum of choices for conducting all personal and business writing and reading activities.
Top interior designers show — and tell — us how to create delectable spaces for hosting dinner parties.
Fans of the French film star may be surprised to learn that he had a flair for furniture with sleek lines and disco-era flash.
Like other pieces in the firm’s Candy Box collection, the cheerful limited-edition design showcases French craft.
Whether you’re just moving in or ready to give your home a makeover, our guide will give you pointers on tables that are fitting for every room, nook and hallway.
From his massive collaborative workshop in a former paper factory, the designer concocts funky furniture from disused materials, as well as luxe hotel interiors like the new Mix Brussels.
The designer’s innovative use of an unexpected material gives this console a lift.
The stately piece brings both gravitas and whimsy to any work space.
Use them as tables or stools, indoors or out.