We may receive a commission when you use our affiliate links. However, this does not impact our recommendations.
In July, Popular Woodworking Books will publish “Grove Park Inn Arts & Crafts Furniture.” If you’re not familiar with the location (host site for the annual Arts & Crafts Conference), let the author (Bruce Johnson) fill you in a bit…¦
When in 1988 I organized the first Arts & Crafts Conference and Antiques Show to be held at the Grove Park Inn, very few Arts & Crafts collectors had heard of the historic hotel, and fewer still had ever visited it. A few dedicated Roycroft collectors knew that in 1913 the Roycroft Furniture Shop and the Roycroft Copper Shop had furnished all of the lighting and much of the furniture for the 150-room hotel, but what few outside of Asheville, N.C., realized is that from 1984 through 1988 the Grove Park Inn had purchased scores of antique Arts & Crafts settles, sideboards, library tables and Morris chairs for their two new additions.
When Arts & Crafts collectors arrived at the Grove Park Inn for the first annual Arts & Crafts Conference in February of 1988, they discovered a treasure trove of Arts & Crafts furniture. Examples of Roycroft, Gustav Stickley, L. & J.G. Stickley, Charles Limbert, Stickley Brothers, J.M. Young and Lifetime furniture filled the rooms, restaurants and hallways, giving the Grove Park Inn the distinction of having the largest Arts & Crafts collection of furniture and lighting in the country.
Each February since then collectors from across the country and around the world have come to the Grove Park Inn each February for the national Arts & Crafts Conference. They come to experience the historic Arts & Crafts hotel, to inspect and enjoy its Arts & Crafts collection and to make and renew friendships with their fellow Arts & Crafts enthusiasts. Their love and admiration for the craftsmanship and the simple, yet elegant designs which set the Arts & Crafts style apart from others brings them together in the one place which, since 1913, has been known as the most famous Arts & Crafts resort hotel in the world.
And while the history of the hotel and its famous guests has been chronicled in “Built for the Ages: A History of the Grove Park Inn,” the Arts & Crafts furniture and lighting which complement its architecture has always been deserving of its own book.
– Bruce E. Johnson
Grove Park Inn Arts & Crafts Furniture includes the history of this unique resort, through good times and bad, as well as a visual tour through the hotel and its furniture collection. For the furniture builder, the book includes detailed scaled drawings and photos for building 10 of the most significant pieces in the Grove Park Inn’s collection (including the GPI chair and hall clock, pictured above). Look for more information on this title in the coming months. Or check online in June for ordering information.
Looking for More Free Woodworking Information?
– Like tools? We do! Read our latest tool coverage HERE.
– Looking for free project plans? We have hundreds. Click HERE.
– Learn a new woodworking technique today. Click HERE.
– Check out our selection of half-price woodworking books HERE.
– Get 8 years of Popular Woodworking on one CD. Click HERE.
Here are some supplies and tools we find essential in our everyday work around the shop. We may receive a commission from sales referred by our links; however, we have carefully selected these products for their usefulness and quality.
