Mid-Century Modern Heywood Wakefield Encore Tall Dresser, Wheat, Circa 1950
View Similar Items
Mid-Century Modern Heywood Wakefield Encore Tall Dresser, Wheat, Circa 1950
About the Item
- Creator:Heywood-Wakefield Co. (Maker)
- Dimensions:Height: 44.5 in (113.03 cm)Width: 38 in (96.52 cm)Length: 44.5 in (113.03 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:circa 1950
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. Overall very good condition, tight and sturdy and as photographed.
- Seller Location:Big Flats, NY
- Reference Number:Seller: 723081stDibs: LU2396325194572
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.
- Mid-Century Modern Heywood Wakefield Double Bed, Wheat Finish, circa 1950By Heywood-Wakefield Co.Located in Big Flats, NYA Mid-Century Modern double or full size bed by Heywood Wakefield offers birch construction in Wheat finish, maker and finish marks as photographed, circa 1950 Measures- Headboa...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Beds and Bed Frames
MaterialsBirch
$1,160 Sale Price20% Off - Mid-Century Modern Heywood Wakefield Double Bed Frame, Wheat Finish, Circa 1950By Heywood-Wakefield Co.Located in Big Flats, NYA Mid-Century Modern double bed frame by Heywood Wakefield offers birch construction in Wheat finish, maker mark as photographed, c1950 Measures- Headboard 35''H x 59''W x 2''D; Foo...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Beds and Bed Frames
MaterialsBirch
$960 Sale Price20% Off - Mid Century Modern Heywood Wakefield Two Door Bookcase in Wheat Circa 1950By Heywood-Wakefield Co.Located in Big Flats, NY***Ask About Reduced In-House Shipping Rates - Reliable Service & Fully Insured*** Mid Century Modern Heywood Wakefield Bookcase with Upper Shelf over Double Door Blind Cabinet in Wh...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Bookcases
MaterialsBirch
$1,160 Sale Price20% Off - Antique Renaissance Revival Flame Mahogany and Marble Dresser, circa 1880Located in Big Flats, NYAntique mahogany Renaissance Revival dresser offers large oval dressing mirror with scroll and foliate frame surmounting chest having shaped and b...Category
Antique 19th Century American Renaissance Revival Dressers
MaterialsMarble
$1,560 Sale Price20% Off - Victorian Renaissance Revival Burl & Walnut Marble Top Dresser, circa 1880Located in Big Flats, NYAn antique Victorian Renaissance Revival chest of drawers offers walnut construction with tall mirror having shaped frame and burl panels...Category
Antique 19th Century American Renaissance Revival Dressers
MaterialsMirror, Burl, Walnut
$1,480 Sale Price20% Off - Renaissance Revival Walnut Burl & Ma Drop Center Mirrored Dresser, circa 1880Located in Big Flats, NYAn antique Renaissance Revival dresser offers walnut construction with mirror frame having carved crest with central shell, flanking geometric and incised elements, drop finials, app...Category
Antique Late 19th Century American Renaissance Revival Dressers
MaterialsMarble
$1,320 Sale Price20% Off
- 1950s Heywood Wakefield Encore long dresser & mirror art deco mid century modernBy Heywood-Wakefield Co.Located in Virginia Beach, VAAn exceptional 1950s, Heywood Wakefield Encore 8 drawer low dresser in a beautiful wheat color. Matching mirror included. Great rounded edges with elongated drawer pulls that span ...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Commodes and Chests of Drawers
MaterialsMaple
- Heywood Wakefield Sculptra Mid Century Wheat 6 Drawer DresserBy Heywood-Wakefield Co.Located in Countryside, ILHeywood Wakefield Sculptra Mid Century Wheat 6 Drawer Dresser This lowboy measures: 56 wide x 19.25 deep x 31.25 inches high All pieces of furniture can be had in what we call rest...Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Dressers
MaterialsWood
- Mid-Century Modern Tall DresserLocated in Brooklyn, NYUnique chest of drawers with sculpted mosaic front pattern, black handles with chrome. (Please confirm item location - NY or NJ - with deale...Category
Vintage 1960s Mid-Century Modern Dressers
MaterialsWalnut
- Mid-Century Modern Blonde Solid Maple 8 Drawer Dresser by Heywood WakefieldBy Heywood-Wakefield Co.Located in BROOKLYN, NYMid-Century Modern Blonde solid Maple 8 Drawer dresser by HEYWOOD WAKEFIELD. Good Vintage Condition clean inside and out. Drawers slide smooth. Very unique mid century and deco desig...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Dressers
MaterialsMaple
- Mid-Century Modern Blonde Solid Maple 6 Drawer Dresser by Heywood WakefieldBy Heywood-Wakefield Co.Located in BROOKLYN, NYMid-Century Modern Blonde solid Maple 6 Drawer dresser by Heywood Wakefield. Good Vintage Condition clean inside and out. Drawers slide smooth. Very unique mid century and deco desig...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Dressers
MaterialsMaple
- Mid-Century Modern Sculpted Walnut Tall Chest DresserLocated in Philadelphia, PAMid-Century Modern sculpted walnut tall chest dresser. Item features raised panel sculpted wood sides, sculpted wood pulls, angled and tapered leg...Category
Mid-20th Century North American Mid-Century Modern Dressers
MaterialsWalnut
