This monumental armchair was probably made by either Ambrose Wright of Tarrytown, New York, or Richard Byrne of White Plains, New York, about 1855. The strength of its vertical and architectural form is partially derived from the use of oak. American Gothic Revival furniture in the 1840's and ‘50's was often constructed from oak. Originally this chair was part of a larger set of seven chairs, two armed, and four armless, that were supposedly in the entrance hall of the Hudson River villa 'Wyndclyffe. This large and grand mansion, was built in 1853 for Elizabeth Schermerhorn Jones by the Scottish builder, George Veitch, who may also have designed this chair. |