Do these chairs really have to be in a corner? The historic use suggests corner chairs were used in dining rooms, as desk chairs, as writing chairs, as smoking chairs and barber chairs. Another fact that comes to light is, corner chairs were mostly used by men. It is said corner chair was designed to accommodate men wearing a sword. But in real life it is pretty difficult to sit on a corner chair with a sword.
Corner chairs are also called the roundabout chairs, these chairs became popular in England in the early 1700s and were out of fashion by early 1800s. During this period these chairs came to the American colonies. Since these chairs went out of style by the early 1800s, some experts say that is why none of the corner chairs are in Federal style.
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| My corner chairs are not in a corner |
We have a pair of corner chairs, I discovered in a very sorry state at a local antique store. Even after couple of price reductions, no one dared touch them. My wife and I loved the chairs but knew it was a lot of work. Finally we bought these and I spent a week on them. They had to be reassembled, and reupholstered, it took me a week to do that, but the outcome is great. These chairs are very comfortable and support the back very nicely.
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| 18th C. Queen Ann corner chair |
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| 18th C. English corner chair |
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| A Chippendale corner chair c. 1765 |
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| Art nouveau corner chair |
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| 1860s English, oak corner chair |
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| 19th C. Angle-Indian corner chair |
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| 20th C. Louis XV corner chair |
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| Hand painted Norwegian corner chair |
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| Dutch colonial corner chair |
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| 19th C. Baroque corner chair |
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| 2009 White corner chair made of knit rubber tubing |
Credits: dictionary.com, 1stdibs, google etc.
