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Utilization of Hardwoods 



AKTICLE FIFTY-FIVIi 

 MISSION FUBNITUKE NOVELTIES 



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The introduction of Mission furniture about teu years ago created 

 a new departure in house furnishing and decoration. Golf, tennis, 

 rowing and all of the other athletic pastimes that came into vogue 

 with both men and women at about that time seemed to call for a 

 simpler, more serviceable and dust-defying furnishing than the 

 mahogany or carved golden oak 

 then so nmch in evidence. A 

 new regime set in. The library, 

 the living room and the den were 

 all alike metamorphosed by fur- 

 nishings of Mission construction 

 and finish. Plate-rail became 

 fashionable. Picture frames, 

 clock* and wall fixtures all had 

 to conform to the new style. 

 Housebuilding ideas even were 

 revolutionized. 



A totally now field was thus 

 opened up for the furniture 

 manufacturer, and lumbermen 

 began to see their oak stock move 

 as it had not moved before in 

 the memory of the business. Fac- 

 tories that were noted for their 

 elegant output of Louis XV fur 

 niture abandoned its manufac- 

 ture entirely for tliat of the pre- 

 vailing rage. 



New concerns sprang up in 

 large numbers and made money 

 in the production of Mission 

 accessories and novelties. Almost 

 anything "Mission" sold readily 

 — not alone the staple articles of 

 furniture, but fancy book-stands, 

 pianos, telephone boxes, smoking- 

 stools, waste - baskets, cabinets, 

 lamp-stands and so on. Many of 

 these novelties were of a kind 



never before seen upon the market and were supposedly models a. la 

 Gothic. Not only were mahogany and golden oak supplanted iu 

 public favor, but even articles that formerly were of metal construc- 

 tion then were for the first time made of wood. Some of the hand 

 somest and mose artistic bookcases ever put upon the market belong 

 to the Mission school. An elaborate array of chandeliers and can- 

 delabra also was offered, these being embellished by insertions of art 

 glass — which was also an innovation at that time. 



A HOUSEHOLD NECESSITY' 



Even the room walls were Missionized. Paneling and decorating 

 was done by the artistic arrangement of thin strips of wood, which 

 gave a quaint, old-world richness to the general effect. During 

 the last few years a thin wall-covering, reasonable in cost, has 

 also appeared. Upon this covering strips of oak, cut into scroll or 



fancy shapes with a jig-saw, are 

 glued, and the whole gives a room 

 the exact appearance of being 

 paneled in solid qiiarter-sawed 

 Mission oak. 



The degree to which clock-case 

 manufacture was ti'ansformed 

 in so short a space of time is 

 almost incredible. The making 

 of Mission clocks almost created 

 a new industry. Stj'le and price 

 were left out of consideration 

 altogether. They ranged from the 

 elegant ten-foot high hall clock 

 costing in the neighborhood of 

 $350 to the six-inch solid oak 

 desk cube that sold for $1.25. 

 Their cases were made of plain 

 and quarter-sawed oak, some 

 finished in severe straight lines; 

 others scroll-cut and elaborately 

 embellished with art glass inser- 

 tions and antique brass and sil- 

 ver trimmings. Still otiiers were 

 hand-inlaid with the precious 

 woods and imitation jewels. 

 Dials were lettered by either a 

 white and blue Decalcomania 

 process or the tacking on of 

 brass numerals. The craze was 

 carried further by the setting of 

 clock movements into Mission 

 pipe-racks, tie-racks, stein-racks, 

 poker chests and wine cabinets, 

 thus enlarging vastl\- the field hitherto covered by the clock manu- 

 facturing industry. 



Articles with a Mission finish were at a premium all over the 

 country, and advertising men took advantage of the fact. Many 

 newspapers stimulated their circulation by offering free to every 

 new subscriber handsome clocks of this type. A Chicago daily 



A CLOCK PIPE-RACK 



ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF PIPE-RACK 



—34— 



