Santa Barb
Y’all know Barb, who regularly comments. She gifted the house with this chair.
Barb (L) and her sister, Pam. Wanna see something astonishing? Scroll down…
…GADZOOKS! The chair is a match to the parlor chair! What are the odds?
We debated why the chair is so much taller than its mate. Barb suggested that this was because it is a ‘ladies chair’ and the lack of arms accounted the large dresses of the era. But why the height? Anybody know?
The upholstery is dreadful, and I would like to have the two re-upholstered. I like the upper tufting and would have that repeated on both chairs.
So, everybody? A big shout-out to Barb!
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Yay!
Perhaps a higher back makes up for the armlessness.
Yay, Barb!
Amazing they match. The same manufacturer? Any marks on them to identify?
I vote for a reupholstery and the tufting. You may find that the seat of the tall chair isn’t really taller at all, but a victim of some previous re-upholstery jobs. But taking them both apart will be the only way to tell what is original and what not.
You are going to have such fun decided on new upholstery fabric. Can’t wait to see them.
Exquisite!
Good eye Barb! You complemented the chair already in place in the parlor!
I love the teal upholstery of the original chair!
Marvelous addition!
I suspect that the taller chair was a desk or dining chair, while the lower chair was a parlor chair. But the seat of the taller chair has also had extra padding added with the new upholstery. The taller height would put one at the correct height to write at a desk or dine at a table properly. I do love the deep teal of the parlor chair, and hope you can replicate it!
It didn’t occur to me that it could be a dining room chair. That could be. Clever of you to think of that.
Barb, I also think Miriam is correct.
It makes a lot of sense, that! Much too tall to be a lounging chair.
Fabulous, Barb! What a wonderful gift for the Cross House.
Maybe ladies could lean their highly coiffed tresses on the high back of the chair to “rest their eyes”?
I suspect it is more for supporting their upper backs. Sitting in a corset can be very tiring.
Stunning! I also think the chair is higher as women had to sit very straight due to corsets. Ugh! Way to go Barb! 🙂
OMG. that’s amazing. What a wonderful gift Barb! I too like the teal upholstery of the armchair, would be nice to find a matching fabric for the ladies? chair. I don’t know if you need any more chairs in the front parlor, but it looks like the teal color would go well in there.
I also think that the taller chair was a dining chair as dining tables of the same epoch used to be higher than modern dining tables. (I have such a table but the original chairs are long gone – and were uncomfortable to sit on anyway. It is not easy to find modern chairs in the corresponding height.)
Wow Barb! What an amazing find and coincidence. I don’t know how folks find these pieces but I’m so glad they are finding their way to the Cross house one by one. This was a very generous contribution.
Oddly enough, it was posted on Facebook Marketplace, and it just happened across my Facebook feed. I thought it looked familiar, and a quick search on the Cross House site showed it looked like one of Ross’s parlor chairs. It was dumb luck, really — but I’ll take it.
Thank you, Barb! Now there is a His and Hers chair, a yin for the yang.
If the chairs are Cross House era (1880s-1890s) the skirts were really not that big, and bustles were build to fold when you sat down mostly, so I concur with the people who think the tall chair was a dining table or desk chair rather than a parlour chair.
Great find! Can hardly wait to see what you do with the reupholstering!
Thanks, all, for the kind words! I’ve been reading Ross’ blog for many years, and I’m a big fan of the house. It’s lovely to think that something I found will become part of the Cross House history.
I believe the answer to the question is actually that both chairs come from a parlor suite.
Very common from the 1890s to 1910s, the parlor suites as marketed by most furniture makers and then through wholesalers like Sears or Montgomery Wards would often consist of a settee, 2 easy chairs (often one might be a platform rocker) and 2 or more side chairs. The green chair is most likely one of the easy chairs, the mystery chair most likely the side chair.
The conceit being, in those days of center parlor tables, that the side chairs could easily be brought from the side of the room to wherever they were needed wheras the easy chairs and settee, while moveable enough since almost all the furniture had castors at that time, would more or less stay put.
The link below is to a listing for an antique furniture catalogue that shows such suites:
https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=30921675345&cm_mmc=ggl-_-COM_Shopp_Rare-_-product_id=bi%3A%2030921675345-_-keyword=&gclid=Cj0KCQjwl92XBhC7ARIsAHLl9alRcfj8cJFgVs37kqcOwpC9kE6yiP3DvaVJQH-YciBYRM2u1T02_KAaAuXQEALw_wcB
Very interesting and great research. Of course, now you’ve done it. With two already, Ross will be on the look out for the rest of the suite.
Very interesting, Thomas! And good to know. I will be on the watch for the other pieces in the set. It was really fun to find this one, completely by accident.