About Roll Top Desks

History

• A furniture maker named Jacob Alles invented the roll top desk in 1829. A native of Jasper, Indiana, Alles had gone into the furniture manufacturing business as a young man. He traveled throughout the United States in order to sell his furniture. One of his stops was Austin, Texas. To pass the time on one such trip to Austin, Alles began whittling. He eventually built a prototype of the roll top desk. He sent it back to his factory in Jasper. Soon after, the roll top desk hit the market.

Identification

• A roll top desk is distinctive from other writing desks in its horizontal slatted covering built into the superstructure. The pedestal of the superstructure is a wide flat surface that serves as the writing area, supported by columns of drawers on either side. The writing surface supports a bank of compartments along the back. There are raised sides on the desktop that complete the formation of the 3-walled support for the roll top. The roll top is comprised of fitted horizontal slats that slide along grooves on the raised sides. The roll top can be opened and closed simply by sliding it up and down.

Features

• Aside from the roll top, this desk features a series of cubbyholes or compartments along the back of the writing surface. These provide storage for the user, and some of these desks may have frontispieces that allow them to be locked. The pedestal of the roll top resembles a standard desk with drawers to either side of the knee hole. The knee hole is usually covered in the front. The roll top itself slides into the superstructure, virtually disappearing from view when the writing surface and compartments are exposed.

Types

• The roll top desk is not the first to use a slatted structure to hide away clutter. It is, however, the first to be designed in such a way as to avoid bowing of the slats over time. This is due to the angling of the slats into the grooves. The flat sides of the slats face outward.

Benefits

• The writing surface of the roll top desks of the early 20th century was nearly 60 inches long and over 20 inches in depth. The size and roll top door made this desk a great hiding place for Earl Williams in the 1940 movie "His Girl Friday." Newspaper reporter Walter Burns, played by Cary Grant, hides Earl Williams--an escaped convict facing execution--in a roll top desk. The desk becomes more than a prop; it takes on the role of protector of the wrongly accused Earl Williams, hiding him from the corrupt officials who framed him.