Why is it called a Carlton House desk?

The name comes from a royal London residence, where the form first appeared. It described a writing table with a tiered bank of stationery drawers wrapping the back and sides, keeping correspondence to hand on an open top. The name stuck to the shape rather than to any one workshop, and it was revived on a large scale in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Are these desks Georgian?

Rarely. Only two of the 148 listings are dated to the 18th century, and one country-house estate desk is put at c1770, the earliest thing in the archive. The dealers' own dating runs 1800 to 1930, and the weight falls late: Edwardian on 33 listings, 1900s on 23, Victorian on 20, 1890s on 18. Much of it is bracket dating, so a stated period often means a range.

What timbers do these desks come in?

Mahogany leads, named in 61 titles, with satinwood next at 33. The two together account for the great bulk of the category. Beyond them the archive turns up walnut and figured walnut, burr walnut, burr yew, rosewood, and oak or pine on the country-house working desks.

Does "Carlton House style" mean something different?

It's dealer shorthand for a desk made in the form rather than of the original period. "Type" and "after a design by" do the same job. On Sellingantiques those qualified titles sit lower on average than the unqualified ones.

How many come up for sale each year?

Around sixteen house desks come to market on Sellingantiques in a year. Sixty-one different dealers have listed one, so no single dealer holds the form.

What are the non-Carlton desks under this heading?

About one listing in ten is a country-house working desk: estate desks, clerks' desks, partners' desks and pedestal desks. Alongside them sit a few forms that appear only once, among them a walnut davenport, an oak cylinder roll-top and a Scottish oak estate manager's kneehole desk. The largest piece recorded is a country-house oak partners desk given as 6ft x 4ft.

Home > Desks > House Desks > Page 2

Antique House Desks

33 items · page 2 of 3

← Page 2 of 3 →

A writing table with a tiered bank of small drawers and pigeonholes wrapping the back and curving forward down each side, built to keep letters and stationery within reach of an open leather writing surface.