Double Sided Pedestal Desk
A double sided pedestal desk is a substantial writing table built for two people to work face-to-face, offering generous proportions and drawers on both sides.
Double Sided Pedestal Desk
A double sided pedestal desk, frequently encountered as a partners desk, forms a commanding centrepiece in a study or library. The pieces span the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries, drawing on Georgian, Victorian, Regency, and Edwardian styles.
Most examples found here date from the Victorian era and the nineteenth century, constructed with dual banks of drawers beneath twin pedestals supporting a spacious writing surface. Alongside standard pedestal formats, variations include serpentine shapes, kneehole arrangements, and freestanding writing tables.
Originating to accommodate business partners or colleagues sharing an office, these desks provide kneeholes and storage accessible from both front and reverse. The enduring appeal lies in symmetrical design and functional capacity, rendering them practical for modern workspaces.
Materials and construction
Cabinet makers utilised dense hardwoods such as mahogany, oak, walnut, burr walnut, flame mahogany, and rosewood, often pairing solid frames with figured veneer surfaces. Ebonised wood and lighter oak also appear among the records.
Leather writing inserts, frequently tooled with gold leaf, form the primary desktop surface across many period examples, edged with moulded timber surrounds. Brass handles, escutcheons, and drawer pulls complete the construction, alongside functional touches like multiple small drawers.
Some eighteen-drawer models offer enough concealed storage that a partner might misplace paperwork indefinitely.
Design and execution
Quality rests upon the selection of timber figures, such as flame mahogany or burr walnut, matched symmetrically across drawer fronts and pedestals. Superior examples display refined carving, precise dovetail joinery in the drawer construction, and well-proportioned architectural detailing.
Maple and Co·Charles Andrea Nosotti·T Wilson
The Double Sided Pedestal Desk Glossary
- Partners desk
- A double sided pedestal desk designed with drawers and kneeholes on opposing faces so two people can sit opposite each other.
- Pedestal
- The vertical columnar cupboard or drawer unit that supports one side of the desktop.
- Kneehole
- The central recess beneath the desk top intended for the seated user's legs.
- Escutcheon
- A protective plate surrounding a keyhole, usually fashioned from brass.
- Flame mahogany
- A veneer cut from timber fork where branches meet the trunk, yielding a distinctive flickering flame pattern.
Double Sided Pedestal Desk: Frequently Asked Questions
What is a double sided pedestal desk?
A double sided pedestal desk is a large freestanding writing table constructed with drawers, cupboards, or kneeholes accessible from both the front and the reverse.
Such desks allow two people to work opposite one another, providing an identical workspace and storage layout on each side.
How do I place one in a room?
Because these desks are finished on all sides, they are traditionally positioned in the centre of a room rather than pushed flat against a wall.
Sufficient clearance around the perimeter is required to allow chairs to pull out and drawers to open fully on both faces.
How do I care for the leather top?
The leather writing surface benefits from occasional treatment with appropriate leather dressings or balms to prevent the material from drying out and cracking.
Moisture and direct heat sources should be kept away from the leather and polished wooden surrounds to preserve the finish.
How can I tell the period?
Dating relies upon observing timber choices, hardware styles, construction methods like hand-cut dovetails, and stylistic markers associated with Georgian, Regency, or Victorian cabinet making.
Secondary woods inside drawers and the profile of mouldings offer further clues to the manufacturing era.