We were very happy to be able to acquire a “new” old piece for the inn.  This monumental Eastlake sideboard from the 1890’s came to us in rather rough shape, but we’ve never seen another like.  The carved details are stunning.

Eastlake or “Cottage” design traces its origins to British architect and designer Charles Eastlake (1836–1906).  His designs were a reaction against the Rococo and Renaissance revival styles popular during the Victorian era.  Eastlake designs are characterized by a strong rectilinear form, geometric ornamentation, spindles, and lightly incised spoon-carved lines.  Eastlake’s influential book Hints on Household Taste in Furniture, Upholstery, and Other Details held that furniture should be sturdy, practical and easy to clean, with emphasis upon careful craftsmanship. Manufacturers in the United States used the drawings and ideas in Eastlake’s book to create mass-produced pieces in the Eastlake style.

Whereas British designers stayed true to Eastlake’s original principles of simplicity and functionality, American manufacturers took a much different path.  Much to Eastlake’s displeasure, they began mass producing pieces of increasing complexity and ornamentation, often incorporating elements of many different eras in a pastiche of styles.  These pieces, which at times ventured into gaudy excess, were very much in vogue among the well-to-do of the Gilded Age for whom ostentatious displays of status and wealth were considered the norm.