19th Century Victorian Wicker Settee
View Similar Items
19th Century Victorian Wicker Settee
About the Item
- Creator:Heywood-Wakefield Co. (Maker)
- Dimensions:Height: 39.5 in (100.33 cm)Width: 43 in (109.22 cm)Depth: 20 in (50.8 cm)Seat Height: 16.5 in (41.91 cm)
- Style:Late Victorian (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1897
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. Seat depth 16.75".
- Seller Location:Savannah, GA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU1071211206033
Heywood-Wakefield Co.
Created by the 19th-century merger of two venerable Massachusetts furniture makers, Heywood-Wakefield was one of the largest and most successful companies of its kind in the United States. In its early decades, the firm thrived by crafting affordable and hugely popular wicker pieces in traditional and historical styles. In the midst of the Great Depression, however, Heywood-Wakefield reinvented itself, creating instead the first modernist furnishings to be widely embraced in American households.
The Heywoods were five brothers from Gardner, Massachusetts, who in 1826 started a business making wooden chairs and tables in their family shed. As their company grew, they moved into the manufacture of furniture with steam-bent wood frames and cane or wicker seats, backs and sides. In 1897, they joined forces with a local rival, the Wakefield Rattan Company, whose founder, Cyrus Wakefield, got his start on the Boston docks buying up lots of discarded rattan, which was used as cushioning material in the holds of cargo ships, and transforming it into furnishings. The conglomerate initially did well with both early American style and woven pieces, but taste began to change at the turn of the 20th century and wicker furniture fell out of fashion. In 1930, the company brought in designer Gilbert Rohde, a champion of the Art Deco style. Before departing in 1932 to lead the Michigan furniture maker Herman Miller, Rohde created well-received sleek, bentwood chairs for Heywood-Wakefield and gave its colonial pieces a touch of Art Deco flair.
Committed to the new style, Heywood-Wakefield commissioned work from an assortment of like-minded designers, including Alfons Bach, W. Joseph Carr, Leo Jiranek and Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky, a Russian nobleman who had made his name in Europe creating elegant automotive body designs.
In 1936, the company introduced its “Streamline Modern” group of furnishings, presenting a look that would define the company’s wares for another 30 years. The buoyantly bright, blond wood — maple initially, later birch — came in finishes such as amber “wheat” and pink-tinted “champagne.” The forms of the pieces, at once light and substantial, with softly contoured edges and little adornment beyond artful drawer pulls and knobs, were featured in lines with names such as “Sculptura,” “Crescendo” and “Coronet.” It was forward-looking, optimistic and built to last — a draw for middle-class buyers in the Baby Boom years.
By the 1960s, Heywood-Wakefield began to be seen as “your parents’ furniture.” The last of the Modern line came out in 1966; the company went bankrupt in 1981. The truly sturdy pieces have weathered the intervening years well, having found a new audience for their blithe and happy sophistication.
Find a collection of vintage Heywood-Wakefield desks, chairs, tables and other furniture on 1stDibs.
- 19th Century Heywood Bros. and Wakefield Co. Natural Wicker Swivel Piano ChairBy Heywood-Wakefield Co.Located in Savannah, GAThis fanciful Victorian wicker swivel piano chair has all the bells and whistles of the most prestigious American wicker designers Heywood Brothers ...Category
Antique 1890s American Late Victorian Chairs
MaterialsMetal
$1,714 Sale Price24% Off - Early 1900s Natural Wicker Heywood Wakefield SetteeBy Heywood-Wakefield Co.Located in Savannah, GAEarly 1900s natural wicker Heywood Wakefield settee featuring a closely woven set-in caned seat, rolled arms and back with lattice work divide...Category
Antique Early 1900s American Late Victorian Settees
MaterialsWicker
- 19th century American Victorian Walnut CupboardLocated in Savannah, GAVery ornate walnut cupboard with three shelves with glass doors on the upper case. On top, the cornice features a reticulated crown with carve...Category
Antique 1850s American High Victorian Cupboards
MaterialsBrass
$2,250 Sale Price62% Off - 19th century Victorian Burled Walnut Étagère with MirrorLocated in Savannah, GAHighly ornate Victorian burled walnut étagère/hall stand composed of three tiers of open shelves on either side of a tall mirror. The base features three more shelves over five drawe...Category
Antique Late 19th Century American High Victorian Shelves
MaterialsMarble
$4,485 Sale Price35% Off - 20th century Chinese Export Porcelain Garden SeatLocated in Savannah, GAHexagonal shaped Chinese Nanking Style Export blue and white glazed porcelain garden seat. Features include a pierced top and sides, molded relief dots...Category
Early 20th Century Chinese Chinese Export Patio and Garden Furniture
MaterialsPorcelain
$1,853 Sale Price34% Off - 19th century Victorian Walnut Server Sideboard with Marble TopLocated in Savannah, GALovely Victorian walnut server or sideboard with beveled marble top. Two drawers, one divided for silverware. Two doors below with divided shelf. Nice petite size suitable for dining...Category
Antique 1880s American High Victorian Sideboards
MaterialsMarble
$1,297 Sale Price34% Off
- American Victorian Wicker LoveseatBy Larkin & Co.Located in New York, NYAmerican Victorian natural wicker woven roll design high back loveseat with spindles and bobbins on back and apron. (LARKIN & CO. label)Category
Antique 19th Century American Victorian Loveseats
MaterialsWicker
- Pair 19th Century English Cast Iron Garden BenchesLocated in Pasadena, CAThis is an extraordinary pair of Victorian cast iron benches in a fern pattern. The iron casting is of the highest level of artistry and craf...Category
Antique 1860s English High Victorian Patio and Garden Furniture
MaterialsIron
$9,400 Sale Price / set20% Off - Organic Modern Cane & Teak SetteeBy McGuireLocated in Southampton, NJA solid Teak frame banquette settee with braided double cane work front & back newly upholstered in grass green Sunbrella fabric. Slightly splayed sid...Category
Early 2000s American Organic Modern Patio and Garden Furniture
MaterialsCane, Teak
- Outdoor Victorian Painted Iron LoveseatLocated in New York, NYOutdoor Victorian blue painted iron loveseat with scroll design seat, back, and armsCategory
20th Century Victorian Loveseats
MaterialsIron
- Wrought Iron Garden Patio Settee LoveseatBy Woodard Furniture Co., SalteriniLocated in New York, NYStylish wrought iron garden, patio poolside settee loveseat, attributed to Salterini. Clean, ready to use condition, currently in later white paint finish which shows some wear, norm...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Patio and Garden Furniture
MaterialsWrought Iron
- Late 19th C. Musical Motif Wicker RockerBy Wakefield Rattan CompanyLocated in Nashua, NHA very rare wicker rocker by the Wakefield Rattan Company, Wakefield Massachusetts, C. 1890s in wonderful condition. This rocker is part of a matching set which can be purchased sepa...Category
Antique 1890s American Late Victorian Patio and Garden Furniture
MaterialsWicker, Cane, Wood