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Styles of Windsor Side Chairs

Legend claims that Britain's King George III, during his reign in the late 18th century, came upon one of these chairs at a subject's home during a hunting expedition. He ordered his carpenters to replicate the style to add to the furnishings of Windsor castle, which eventually gave the chair its name. Within two decades, though, the Windsor chair reached America, and furniture makers began replicating the style for the public.

  1. Low-Back Windsor

    • Windsor chairs are stick build, meaning the chair is assembled by fitting the pieces together through the use of round sockets rather than fitted joints. One of the earliest styles of the Windsor chair is the low-back Windsor. The spindles make up the back and sides, which are crowned with a continuous top rail made of wood, making the upper part of the chair into a semi-circle. Each spindle is fitted into a drilled socket within the arm as well as into the wide saddle-shaped seat. The four legs are splayed outward with a stretcher for stability.

    High-Back Windsor

    • In contrast to the wrapped styling of the low-back, the spindles on the high-back Windsor are crowned across the top, but the arms of the chair are created by a bent rod, or mid-rail, that runs horizontally through the spindles approximately midway between the seat and the top rail. The legs are characteristically splayed outward and strengthened by a stretcher.

    Late Windsor

    • The late Windsor resembles the low-back Windsor in that the connecting top rail also forms the arms, creating a low-back chair. The late Windsor, however, employs two stretchers, one connecting the two front legs and one connecting the two back legs. The spindles, seat, legs and stretchers on this style have more mass than is typical of Windsor chairs, giving it a rustic appeal appropriate to country style decor.

    Bow-Back Windsor

    • Perhaps one of the more recognized Windsor styles, the bow-back exhibits a rounded top rail that swoops gracefully downward and connects to the arms. The arms are formed by a horizontal rod in the same fashion as the high-back Windsor. The arms are rolled downward at the end, and the supports tilt backward slightly, adding visual motion to the chair. The seat is wide and supported by splayed legs, with one stretcher for support. The recognition of this style, and perhaps its attribution as the quintessential Windsor chair, may be due to its association with the signers of the Declaration of Independence. The founding fathers sat in bow-back Windsor chairs at the signing of that document.

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Chairs
  1. How to Pack a Chair
  2. Building Rocking Chairs
  3. Chair Capacity
  4. Kinds of Wood Chairs
  5. Gothic Chair Styles
  6. Old Ladderback Chair Styles
  7. Styles of Rocking Chairs
  8. Thonet Styles of Chairs
  9. How to Identify Original Windsor Bowback Chairs
  10. Styles of Wing Chairs
  11. American Dining Chair Styles
  12. Chair Styles for a Living Room

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