Gracie Mansion Chairs

Posted on May 7, 2012 by Peter Aleksa

Everyone is pretty curious about this job, I have told the story countless times so I thought I would share it on this blog. I was at a very well known auction house with a friend/client who was purchasing antiques for his home and office. There was a set of 7 chairs in the auction that were essentially mis-cataloged. I had looked at them and realized that they were hand made Federal Period New York chairs. The set was missing one arm chair and they were in need of a bit of restoration. My client, knowing that I can replicate period chairs and color-match/distress them to fill out the set, plus handle any repair, bought the chairs.

This photo shows one New York Federal arm chair made around 1810 and the other I made.

I was fortunate to receive a phone call from Jamie Drake, Michael Bloombergs decorator, inquiring about making 24 chairs for Gracie Mansion. The original period chair and my arm chair replica were delivered to Gracie Mansion for review. I did not have this blog set up and did not take a whole bunch of pictures during the job but I did take a few which I will show here.

All 24 chairs came out of this pile of lumber. I selected FEQ grade mahogany.

Here is one chair in an exploded view showing the mortise and tenon joinery. The chair is leaning against a Northfield 16 inch patternmakers jointer.

Here are the backs partially assembled. I threw together the vertical storage shelf/cart specifically for this job. My shop is a bit small and keeping parts organized is a priority.

This photo shows the stretcher assembly. The center stretcher is dovetailed into the side stretcher. I glue the center stretcher to the side stretchers first, then glue the assembly into the chair. The stretchers are stacked on a Onsrud pneumatic inverted pin router.

So here is the set of 24 chairs in my driveway outside my shop. The slip seats were covered in horse hair fabric.

I was fortunate that the curator at Gracie Mansion allowed me to photograph the chairs in the room as long as I did not take any pictures showing the windows(for security purposes).

Gracie Mansion, built in 1799 by Archibald Gracie, has been the official residence of the Mayor of NYC since 1942. Although the current mayor does not live there, it is used daily for city business. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 and is open to the public for tours.

CT Historical Society Show

Posted on April 5, 2012 by Peter Aleksa

If you happen to be in CT or passing through, take a look at the show at the CT Historical Society. It is called “A Tradition of Craft”, current work by the Society of American Period Furniture Makers. The staff at the Historic Society have done a great job displaying the new work mixed in with some very significant pieces from their collection. I have a Portsmouth Bow Front Sideboard on display which is for sale. Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of the show yet but plan on taking some soon.

Architectural Digest Show

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Peter Aleksa

Thank You to all who visited with me at the Architectural Digest Show this past weekend. I enjoyed talking with past clients and meeting new.

Architectural Digest Home Design Show

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Peter Aleksa

Two more days till the show starts! I will be packing up Tuesday afternoon and heading into NYC early Wednesday morning to set up. The show is open Thursday- Sunday 10 am to 7 pm. Stay tuned for booth pictures….

Merve walnut table

Posted on March 13, 2012 by Peter Aleksa

I buy all my lumber in the rough, random width and length. I purchase it by thickness, the thickness being 4/4, 5/4, 6/4, 8/4, 12/4, and 16/4. I joint and plane all my material to eliminate any warp, cup or bow. This picture shows a few of the boards that are going to be used in this table.

The top is being glued up. I re-sawed a wide 12/4 board to have a bookmatched top. The two other boards that will be glued on to these to make the width will also be bookmatched.

When I need to make multiple parts on tables, chairs, etc. I flush cut them. This picture shows a set up on my smaller shaper. The center spindle has a cutter head in it that has two steel knives ground to be flush with a bearing on the top of the cutterhead. The black arm is a hold down so the mahogany block will be in contact and press down on the piece I am cutting. I make a pattern to the exact dimensions of my final piece and the pattern is tacked to the piece after it is bandsawn out roughly. I place the tacks towards the ends to avoid any hole issues from the tacks. With the shaper running, I engage the pattern against the bearing and flush all the pieces.

Here are all the legs made to the exact same size with the pattern next to them. The two long pieces on the right of the photo will be used for the braces. These were planed at the same time as the legs to make sure they are the same thickness.

This picture shows the bottom of the table top with the profile cut into it. The legs, notched and mortised for the braces and the round over profile cut below the braces. It also shows part of the under support for the table with the mortises cut to receive the leg and braces.

The final table. It was finished with a white wash/grey color. This table was designed and built for Defne Veral and David Harlan for their furniture line.

Curved Jamb and Casing

Posted on February 28, 2012 by Peter Aleksa

I don’t often do any form of mill work or moldings. I have just never really been asked to do any. But, I had a local client stop by the shop who was trying to trim out a small opening next to his fireplace. He had bought a curved piece of molding that look horrible. The opening is only about 18 inches wide so we designed the profile of the molding around what was fairly straight forward to produce. I also made two 40″ runs of molding to match the curved jamb and casing.

New York Shield back chairs

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Peter Aleksa

I am working on repairing 4 New York period Federal chairs. These are in really nice shape and do not need to much work. It is very interesting to think that these chairs were made entirely by hand with no electricity in New York or the vicinity around 1800-1820 or so. I am sure I will be taking patterns and measurements off these for future use.

RI Federal Card Table repair

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Peter Aleksa

This Rhode Island Federal card table came into my shop over the weekend for repair. It is missing the cuffs on the legs and a small piece of veneer on the front. The fly leg in the back is in pretty rough shape as well. It is made out of beautiful dense mahogany. It is a pleasure to be able to work on and handle antiques like this.

Sheraton Dinning Room Pedestal Table

Posted on February 19, 2012 by Peter Aleksa

I sold this table a few weeks ago. I built in on “spec” probably about 6 years ago. From it, I have been commissioned to make two tables that were a bit smaller. One had a slightly different edge treatment compared to this. The table is mahogany with a satin wood edge banding separated by a holly and ebony line inlay. The edge of the table is triple reeded. The tapered saber legs are also reeded and terminate in hairy paw casters. It is a large table- 90 inches long with no leaves. There are two 20 inch leaves. I am glad that this table has found a home and it has gone to a great client and friend.

New York Corner Chair

Posted on February 19, 2012 by Peter Aleksa

I recently completed this commissioned New York Corner chair. It is a copy of one that is in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. The chair is color matched and distressed to match an existing antique in this clients collection. I was not able to get any photos of this chair during construction. It was constructed using one single piece of 12/4 mahogany.

This photo shows a little of the distressing and color changes/glazing. There is color/stain that was applied to this piece in order to get this look. If you look closely, the end grain is exactly the same color as the flat areas. End grain typically absorbs more of the color and tends to go darker. I was able to avoid that on this chair

Here is a photograph of the splat.

All four feet are ball-and-claw. The front knee has a large shell. The 12/4 mahogany that I used was rift sawn so I was able to orient the grain to get a bulls eye grain pattern on the front knee.

Cherry Brook Woodworks