Corner Chairs

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.

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. 

18th C. Queen Ann corner chair

18th C. English corner chair

A Chippendale corner chair c. 1765

Art nouveau corner chair

1860s English, oak corner chair

19th C. Angle-Indian corner chair

20th C. Louis XV corner chair

Hand painted Norwegian corner chair

Dutch colonial corner chair

19th C. Baroque corner chair

2009 White corner chair made of knit rubber tubing 

Credits: dictionary.com, 1stdibs, google etc.