Hitchcock Chairs And A Lazy Susan

No. Not this Hitchcock but this

HITCHCOCK.

American Sheraton Hitchcock-type painted and stencil-decorated rush seat side chair. Connecticut Valley, circa 1820

American Sheraton Hitchcock-type painted and stencil-decorated rush seat side chair. Connecticut Valley, circa 1820

'

Hitchcock.

These are very old, and very costly.

"The earliest Hitchcock stencil read "L.HITCHCOCK. HITCHCOCKS-VILLE. CONN. WARRANTED". But here's the catch. Unlike most Hitchcock stencils you may have seen, the original stencil DID NOT have the "N's" backward in "CONN". That little glitch did not appear until 1832 when the company, after a run of bad luck, had been through receivership and emerged in a new corporate form known as the Hitchcock, Alford Company. The "Alford" was Arba Alford, Hitchcock's brother-in-law. During this phase of production the first stencils with backward "N's" appeared, not really surprising when the bulk of the work was done by laborers who could not read or write."

Lambert Hitchcock (May 28, 1795, Cheshire, Connecticut – 1852) was an American furniture manufacturer, famous for designing and mass-producing the Hitchcock Chair.

Hitchcock was the son of John Lee Hitchcock, an American Revolutionary War veteran who was lost at sea in 1811. He attended the Episcopal Academy of Cheshire, now known as Cheshire Academy, and was an apprentice to woodworker Silas Cheney. In 1818, he opened a furniture factory in Riverton, Connecticut, then called Hitchcocksville. The factory at first made chair parts. Soon, however, Hitchcock, influenced by Connecticut clockmaker Eli Terry, began mass-producing simple, affordable chairs and selling them throughout the United States. Instead of painting designs on the backs, he used the relatively new and easier technique of stenciling. By the late 1820s, the Hitchcock Chair Company was producing over 15,000 chairs a year.

Although an innovative manufacturer, Hitchcock was an unsuccessful businessman. His company went through receivership in 1832, with his brothers-in-law joining the business under the name Hitchcock, Alford & Co. In 1843, he sold his interest in the company and started a new company in Unionville, Connecticut, which also failed. He died in 1852 with little money to his name.

In 1946, John Tarrant Kenney came upon the abandoned Hitchcock Chair factory while fishing on the Farmington River. He wrote a biography, The Hitchcock Chair, and started a new Hitchcock Chair Company in the same location. That business lasted until 2006, when it was forced to close due to competition from low-cost overseas furniture manufacturers.

Sad.

I have always had a thing for Hitchcock Chairs.

Martha Stewart has come out with her own version of Hitchcock chairs.

They are manufactured by Bernhardt.

I have a set myself that I use in my kitchen off and on. 

I have several sets of chairs that I use in my kitchen.

I like to mix it up.

You can pick this style chair up at consignment stores if you look, they are there.

And if you paint them, and cushion them in something fun

you will have a great fresh look.

P.S. by nature these are very comfy chairs.

If you were interested in the round table with the Lazy Susan....

info under pic above.

Some people really love the 'Lazy Susan' thingie.

Do You ?

Do any of you remember the kitchen table in

My Three Sons ?

It had a 'lazy susan.'

Do you like Hitchcock Chairs?

I have included the interesting site below.
To read the whole fascinating history go here.


credits: wikipedia 
Renee Finberg 'TELLS ALL' in her BLOG.....
Interior Design, Palm Beach, Boca Raton,Ft.Lauderdale,
Design Service, Window Treatments, TurnKey Interior Design 
Service,Paint selection, Floor-Plans,Online Interior Design,
Design Center of The Americas, D.C.O.T.A., Hitchcock Chairs, Lazy Susan's