Who made these?

I have two pieces of furniture I'd like to know more about who made them.  The first is an umbrella stand made of Moorish Fretwork.  I'd seen the stand in an 1885 advertisement for the C.S.Ransom Company indicating that it was their work and Moses Ransom who worked there held the September 15,1885 patent for Moorish Fretwork.  It has all the characteristics of a Ransom piece but the label on the bottom said it was designed and made by Frederick Rode from New York.  I haven't been able to find any information on him besides that he was an art furniture maker on Broadway in New York and that he helped decorate Grant's tomb.  So if anyone knows anything about Frederick Rode and his connection to Moorish Fretwork I'd appreciate some help.

The second piece is this fantastic chair with tapered spindle lattice work in the back and under the seat.  I have seen some a few other pieces of furniture like the rocking chair that have this work but primarily this type of work is associated with Stanford White.  White used this kind of work in decorative screens throughout his early residential work and the only other architect that I've encountered that has used it was Dudley Newton who also used it in Newport.  I'm fairly sure it isn't a Hunzinger since it was very rare for him to not sign or patent an unusual design.  I don't think it is Merklen either.  H. Lauter is a possibility.  I've seen some of their furniture with similar leg designs.  I'd really love to attach a maker's name to this.

I have photos of these at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/myransom/UnknownFurnitureMakers

Thanks,

Paul Tucker

Hi, Paul.  This is my first post on this forum, so hello, everybody.

I became interested in fretwork while reading the Rare Victorian blog, because I suddenly realized that I had some in my house.  I live in the Fingerlakes area of NY.  Here's my fretwork:





Hope it's OK to post these.

I'm a dummy about antiques, but I love my Victorian house.  It's an Italianate built in 1878.  More pictures are here:

http://ancapistan.typepad.com/photos/1880s_victorian_photos/

The reason I thought you might be interested in my sadly painted (not by me!) fretwork is that the connecting spindles are spiral.  Is this common?  I looked at as many pictures as I could find on the web, but I didn't find many with spiral spindles.

Texmac - I can't help with whether your spiral spindles on the fretwork are common, but I wanted to let you know that your house is gorgeous.  You obviously did a ton of work on those bedroom floors - congratulations on a great result - the pattern shows how unique and beautiful Victorian can be! 

Texmac,
I've seen a good bit of this "rope and ball" work.  It isn't rare but is almost always painted now.  This piece was almost certainly made by the Buffalo Grille Co. from Buffalo, NY.  They were connected to the C.S.Ransom Company from Cleveland that invented the Moorish Fretwork and made this rope and ball work but didn't do this type of carving work.

I would like to echo Dawn's remarks about your house.  Thanks for making this investment in your house.  It's a real joy to visit the fingerlakes region and find places like yours.  The last couple of years my wife and I have been taking an October trip to the fingerlakes and we love it.  Last year we went to one of the most interesting museums we have ever been in.  The Glen Curtiss museum in Hammondsport is a must see and there is something there for everyone.  This year we enjoyed Watkins Glen state park and the Corning Museum of Glass.  We're already planning our trip for next year.  Of course I have my camera ready for a nice place like yours.

Thanks,

Paul

Very, VERY nice home.  I said in another thread on this site (commenting on pictures of another style of Victorian house that was posted) that I loved the other home, but my real favorite is Italianate.  My wife and I just built a new one.  Your house captures many of the Italianate features that I absolutely LOVE.  Congratulations on purchasing and fixing it up.  I know you're going to love it.  Yours will be the envy of the neighborhood.

BornaHeel

Quote from: Dawn
Texmac - I can't help with whether your spiral spindles on the fretwork are common, but I wanted to let you know that your house is gorgeous.  You obviously did a ton of work on those bedroom floors - congratulations on a great result - the pattern shows how unique and beautiful Victorian can be! 

Thank you!  I really wondered if there was any life left in those floors when we got down to the tar layer and there were so many holes!  They're not exactly level, either.  We love them anyway and I'm glad we persisted.

Quote from: myransom
Texmac,
I've seen a good bit of this "rope and ball" work.  It isn't rare but is almost always painted now.  This piece was almost certainly made by the Buffalo Grille Co. from Buffalo, NY.  They were connected to the C.S.Ransom Company from Cleveland that invented the Moorish Fretwork and made this rope and ball work but didn't do this type of carving work.

I would like to echo Dawn's remarks about your house.  Thanks for making this investment in your house.  It's a real joy to visit the fingerlakes region and find places like yours.  The last couple of years my wife and I have been taking an October trip to the fingerlakes and we love it.  Last year we went to one of the most interesting museums we have ever been in.  The Glen Curtiss museum in Hammondsport is a must see and there is something there for everyone.  This year we enjoyed Watkins Glen state park and the Corning Museum of Glass.  We're already planning our trip for next year.  Of course I have my camera ready for a nice place like yours.

Thanks,

Paul

Thanks for the information, Paul.  And thanks for the tip about the Hammondsport museum.  We didn't know about it but we'll have to make a trip to see it soon.  Now that we've "met" through this forum, you'll have to stop in on your next Fingerlakes trip.  Our house is in Dundee, NY, just a few miles from Watkins Glen.

Do you think it would be worthwhile to strip that piece?  Our house is a curious mixture of really nice never-painted wood (mostly oak) moldings and a couple of rooms that have painted moldings with plaster crown molding.  The fretwork is in the archway between the two panted-woodwork rooms.   

Diane

Quote from: BornaHeel
Very, VERY nice home.  I said in another thread on this site (commenting on pictures of another style of Victorian house that was posted) that I loved the other home, but my real favorite is Italianate.  My wife and I just built a new one.  Your house captures many of the Italianate features that I absolutely LOVE.  Congratulations on purchasing and fixing it up.  I know you're going to love it.  Yours will be the envy of the neighborhood.

BornaHeel

Pictures!