L & J. G. Stickley’s No. 220 settle from a catalog.

I sometimes wonder whether the Stickley brothers ever gathered as a group in adulthood. I picture them, perhaps sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner, or watching their children open Christmas presents, and imagine the undercurrents and tensions that likely arose when five brothers–Gustav, Leopold, John George, Albert, and Charles–all engaged, in various combinations of partnership, in the same profession with varying degrees of success in New York and Michigan–came together in a single place. Shared meals could have been especially fraught after Gustav’s bankruptcy and short-lived association with Leopold and John George’s company. The latter two brothers built their company on designs in the same style as Gustav’s Craftsman furniture before adapting to changing tastes. While the No. 220 settle shows a Craftsman influence, it is, as Bob Lang observers in Shop Drawings for Craftsman Furniture unlike anything produced by Gustav Stickley.

The broad arms and horizontal lines of the even-arm form call to mind the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. Peter Hansen designed the Stickley brothers’ “Prairie” pieces, and the company released the design in 1912. The broad, overhanging top and frame-and-panel sides set the settle and matching arm chair (the No. 416) apart from other Stickley designs. Construction is straightforward. Rails are mortised into the legs, and the stiles and panels are captured in grooves. Corbels provide both support for the top and the only visual relief from otherwise straight lines.

More Information

The Mission Furniture of L & J. G. Stickley collects three catalogs from the L & J.G. Stickley company.

Robert Lang’s Shop Drawings for Craftsman Furniture features measured drawings for both the No. 220 Prairie Settle and the No. 416 chair.