WINDSOR

Design of the Windsor rocking chair originated in England and was brought to America as early as 1726. Colonial cabinetmakers took the simple design, adding their own refinements including paint. Artisans used a combination of soft and hard woods, such as pine and oak, requiring little machinery to make. “Rockers” were added to the conventional Windsor chair to benefit nursing mothers in 1730.

BOSTON

“One of the most popular rocking chairs was the Boston rocker, a comb-back Windsor chair with a tall back surmounted by a broad top rail that provided comfortable support for the head and a convenient location for decoration, usually stenciled floral motifs. The spindles of the back were sometimes gently curved in an S shape, and the arms were generally heavy and ended in scrolls. Some Boston rockers had elaborate seats that curved down at the front and up at the rear.” Witold Rybczynski, Architect and Author.
Lambert Hitchock, 1826, manufactured ‘fancy’ Boston rocking chairs.

SHAKER

In 1771, Mother Ann Lee founded the Shaker movement in America. The Shaker chair symbolized the religious precepts of the society: fine craftsmanship, simple design and utility. Theologian Thomas Merton wrote: “The peculiar grace of a Shaker chair is due to the fact that it was made by someone capable of believing that an angel might come and sit on it.” While the design of the armrests and seats varied, most chairs had a four-slat ladder-back with seats of listing tape (a kind of cotton webbing) woven in a checkerboard pattern. Local woods were used: maple, birch, chestnut, butternut and honey pine.

MISSION AND ARTS & CRAFTS

These terms have been often used interchangeably although “Mission” was used mainly on the East coast. “Craftsman” and “Prairie” are also styles interwoven in this category. Production origins are different in that Arts and Crafts were handmade while Mission was mass-produced. The overall style is rectilinear in form with little or no ornamentation. Rocking chairs featured large armrests, slat-backs, leather-covered seats using dark stained oak which highlighted the wood’s grain pattern. Notable figures in this style were Gustav Stickley on the East coast, and Charles and Henry Greene on the West Coast.

ADIRONDACK

Sometimes called Adirondack ‘tree’ furniture, the name is not to be confused with the Adirondack chair which originated in Westport, N.Y. Nor did all such rustic chairs originate in the Adirondack mountains. Early craftsmen used all parts of the tree combining sticks, tree branches, and woven bark seats making each chair unique.

Once wealthy New Yorkers began building in the mountains, Victorian taste influenced the designs more toward “polite (fancy) rusticity” and caused an infusion of chairs from outside the region which resulted in more manufactured chairs. The “style” still helped enhance the city-dwellers country living experience.

Hans Wegner, 1944, Denmark

A timeless rocking chair of simple, beautiful design. Wegner was influenced by Shaker and Windsor furniture, incorporating a high back, woven-cord seat and tapered, slender spindles. Knowing that the rockers needed to be splayed rather than parallel to keep the chair from creeping across the floor when rocked, Wegner created a perfectly scaled chair.

THONET
Michael Thonet, 1860, Germany

Thonet’s company created the first bentwood upholstered rocking chair in 1860, and this caned rocking chair in 1880.The design is distinguished by its graceful shape and its light weight. You can read about Thonet’s most famous cafe chair, No.14, in our DesignLAB.

Charles and Ray Eames, 1950, Herman Miller Furniture Company.

The original 1948 Eames single-shell form was made of fiberglass but now changed to polypropylene. The rockers were added in 1950. Since 1955, employees of Herman Miller have been given this chair to celebrate the birth or adoption of a child.

Sam Maloof, Furniture Designer and Woodworker, 1916-2009.

Maloof’s most iconic furniture form is the rocking chair, first made in 1958. After much work, Maloof developed a sturdy, comfortable and sculptural chair. Presidents Carter and Reagan were proud recipients of the Maloof rocker.

Abraham Lincoln

This Belter/Victorian-style silk-upholstered, walnut-carved rocking chair was placed in the Ford Theatre box especially for President Lincoln’s attendance on April 14, 1865. The chair is now in the collection of the Henry Ford Museum.

Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt said, “What true American does not enjoy a rocking-chair?”

John F. Kennedy

The P & P Chair Company (North Carolina) rocker was first recommended by Kennedy’s physician in 1955 to help alleviate his back pain. President Kennedy had several chairs to use wherever he was, including aboard Air Force One. This Oval Office chair was refinished and upholstered by Mrs. Kennedy’s interior designer, Sister Parish.