| Mission Style |
| Our
Plans | The Arts &
Crafts Movement | William
Morris | Frank Lloyd
Wright | Mission Style
| Georgia O’Keeffe
| Louis Comfort Tiffany
| Greene & Greene
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| No one is certain how it got the name “mission-style
furniture. Some believe it is related to the philosophy of the
movement, that the furniture was functional and had a “mission”
to be used. Others believe the furniture was derived from the
designs of furniture found in the missions in California. The
descriptive name "mission furniture" is thought to
be coined by Joseph McHugh, a New York furniture manufacturer
and retailer, to describe his line of straight line rustic style
furniture that he began producing about 1895. The mission style
furniture design was based on a chair that had been designed
for the Swedenborgian Church of the New Jerusalem in San Francisco,
circa 1894-1985. The mission chair was a simple rush-seated
chair. The design of the church and the chairs were influenced
by the Spanish missions of the area, thus the term "mission
furniture". The architectural office of A. Page Brown had
architects Bernard Maybeck and A.C. Schweinfurth design the
church and they chose this mission style. |
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| Mission furniture caught on as a generic term
for the style of furniture and also the European term "arts
& crafts" was used. At about the same time that McHugh
was commercializing his line of mission furniture; Elbert Hubbard
and Gustav Stickley were developing their own designs. Many
of the pieces had transitional designs that combined both Arts
and Crafts and Art Nouveau styles, but by 1900 the designs of
Stickley and Roycroft became more straight lined and developed
into the familiar mission style, as we know it. Interestingly,
both McHugh and Stickley exhibited at the 1901 Pan-American
Exposition in Buffalo, New York with McHugh winning a silver
medal. |
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| Mission style furniture really caught on around
the turn of the century. At that time many homes were furnished
with either mission furniture or Victorian furniture or both.
Many firms started manufacturing a line of mission furniture
or were totally dedicated to this style. The best known firm
and considered to be the best in terms of design and quality
was the Craftsman Workshops of Gustav Stickley. |
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| Gustav
Stikley |
| It is Gustav Stikley’s work that most people
associate with Arts & Craft Furniture. Stickley achieved
success in the early 1900’s as the leader of the Arts
& Crafts Movement in America. He was already an established
furniture manufacturer when, in 1898, he began to design a new
line inspired by the designs he had seen in Europe. In 1901,
Stickley founded The Craftsman magazine, which expounded the
philosophy of the English Arts & Crafts movement. He worked
with architect Harvey Ellis to design house plans for the magazine.
He published 221 such plans over the next fifteen years. Gustav
Stikley created the first truly American furniture known throughout
the world as craftsman. The new line of handcrafted furniture
was based on honesty and simplicity. Stickley’s craftsman
furniture, also known in the United States as mission style,
resulted in simple, sturdy and functional furnishings. Stickley
believed in clean lines and the inherent beauty of natural wood
and leather. Strong, simple construction and honest, comfortable
design were at the heart of his furniture. His furniture provided
a stark contrast to the dominant Victorian styling of an era
characterized by gaudy machine-made designs. Stickley's mission
furniture is characterized by straight, clean lines and the
simple appeal of quarter-sawn white oak with features of joinery,
including through tenons, corbels and butterfly joints. |
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| A Touch
of Stickley |
 Gustav
Stickley’s influence can be seen through out our guest
rooms. The clean lines, honesty and simplicity of Stickley’s
craftsman style furniture was a perfect choice for our night
stands and the quarter-sawn oak chairs. The chairs were manufactured
in Massachusetts and the night stands, desks and dressers came
from Arkansas. Mission style furniture being sturdy and functional
are just some of the reasons the mission style is as popular
today as it was in the 1920’s |
