Furniture - English - Victorian (1830-1901)

With the burgeoning Industrial Revolution, machine-made furniture replaced hand-made. In the 1830’s machines were invented to cut veneer and to press designs, which would previously been carved, into timber. At the same time, improved transportation meant that a wide variety of imported timbers, including mahogany, rosewood, teak and ebony, become available,

As a result the typical Victorian item was a reproduction of something from an earlier period, such as Victorian Gothic and Renaissance Revival with reproductions of Queen Anne furniture being the most popular.

Elizabethan furniture designs, with their panels of open decoration and strapwork and profusion of knobs were well suited to mechanical reproduction. At the same time, Elizabethan styles were associated with romantic notions of "Merrie England" and, so, became popular in the early Victorian period.

 

 Victorian chairs

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Furniture - Australian - Victorian (1800 - 1900)

As a result of the gold rushes of the 1850s, Australia’s population soared to about a million by 1865. The new wealth created a demand for larger and more ornate furniture with large bookcases and telescopic extending dining tables. Carving and fretwork was common but the quality of workmanship suffered somewhat under the pressure to keep up with demand. Mid-Victorian cedar bookcase (about 1860)
Late Victorian Australian chair (1880) From around 1865, enormous changes in technology meant the virtual end of hand made furniture and the introduction of squarer lines more easily handled by machines. Cedar, which still predominated at the beginning of the period was gradually replaced by blackwood and pine. The period also saw a price war between European and Chinese cabinet makers who each tried to produce similar looking pieces more cheaply than the other by reducing standards of workmanship and using poorer quality timbers for linings.

 

 

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Furniture - American Victorian (1840 - 1910)

As in Europe, the Victorian period in America saw an eclectic mix of revivals of past styles, including French, Gothic, Renaissance and Classical styles. No one style lasted throughout the Victorian period but several were in vogue at any given time. Often different styles were used for different rooms in one house; for example, a Gothic hall, Renaissance bedroom, Louis XIV drawing room and so on. American Victorian couch (1850)
American Gothic Revival chair (1840-1860) Increasing industrialisation allowed the beginnings of mass production to meet the needs of a rapidly increasing population. Painted and stencilled  Hitchcock chairs This, however, also brought with it fierce competition and a lowering of standards of craftsmanship. By the end of the 19th century, as elsewhere, there was a reaction against mass production which led to the Arts and Crafts movement.

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