No. 220
Numbers are noteworthy. Most numbers are used to accurately record information but certain ones also define icons. I’m not referring to calendar dates or dimensional specs; rather, those numerical identifiers issued to the bearer with no other significance implied. You know the ones: 5 (perfume); 7 (spirits); 42 (baseball); 43 (NASCAR); 66 (highways); 747 (transportation); more.* They say it all, no matter the language.
* Coco Chanel’s first perfume; Jack Daniel’s original whiskey; Jackie Robinson’s uniform number; Richard Petty’s car; the first all weather route connecting Chicago and Los Angeles; Boeing’s first Jumbo Jet.
Furniture has a few numbers, too, the most famous of which might be 220. Heard of it? It comes from the days of furniture catalogs, and in particular, the catalog of Leopold and John George Stickley. L. & J.G., to use their business handles, were the two youngest brothers of Gustav Stickley, creator of the Craftsman furniture style, and who themselves operated a rather successful early 20th century furniture business. Much to their older brother’s annoyance, their catalog was packed with imitations and derivatives of his designs. But unlike Gustav, these guys stuck with furniture alone and their business, today known as Stickley Audi & Co., continues to outlast that of their benefactor’s which folded way back in 1915. L. & J.G. also made good furniture and around 1912 they designed some “mission” furniture pieces that would come to define the style. Most notable among these was the so-called “Prairie Settle”, No. 220 in their line of goods. Now, thousands of different furniture pieces were produced during this heyday of American manufacture, all numbered, and to be considered iconic among the masses an item needs to truly stand-out as a paragon. The identifying number, through continued reference, becomes synonymous with the nonpareil of that genre. (Don’t you love it when French words come through?) Indeed, L. & J.G. Stickley’s Prairie Settle has become known simply as “No. 220” to both furniture collectors and makers as a means to lift it above the many dozens of other settle variants, all possessing less enduring designs and forgettable catalog numbers.
220 Settle, as displayed in the catalog: The Work of L & J.G. Stickley, Fayetteville, NY (c. 1914), p. 24.
reproduced from: Stickley Craftsman Furniture Catalogs: Unabridged Reprints of Two Mission Furniture Catalogs, Dover, New York (1979).
Sketched in pencil and buried mid-catalog at the bottom of page 24 you might wonder ‘what’s so special about this one?’. Well, this settle, and the related arm chair No. 416, contain design elements never before seen in the extensive repertoire of Mission/Arts & Crafts/Craftsman furnishings. The low horizontal lines of the substantial wrap-around arms and rectangular rails make a strong statement and are, in fact, unique. No doubt influenced by architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie School, which at that time was gaining popularity in the Midwest, these guys from New York (more accurately their designer, Peter Hansen) somehow got it right in a way that has endured beyond all others.
And by “endure”, I mean that it is one of the very few furniture items from the early 20th century that is still being produced according to the original plan. Not only can a new No. 220 be purchased from Stickley today, but a brief Google search reveals that versions of No. 220 are also available on several other furniture websites and from the artisans who market on Etsy. There are also loads of posts in the woodworking forums and blogs describing the exploits of amateur furniture makers still being drawn to No. 220’s bright porch light. You can include me in that last group, too. As my next Project, I am setting out to make the No. 220 settle for our living room. I hope you will enjoy following its progress.
Prairie Settle, No. 220
Photo by H. Peter Curran, from: Stickley Craftsman Furniture Catalogs: Unabridged Reprints of Two Mission Furniture Catalogs, Dover, New York (1979), p. vii.
