By the late 1720s, Windsors had crossed the pond and were being produced in the United States in diverse variations, quickly gaining traction among American households. “The American Windsor evolved from the English Windsor, which developed from what we now call the Welsh stick chair,” explains Glatt. “The evolution is distinct, but the guiding principles of design, material, and construction remain.”
American Windsors tended to be lighter, more minimal, and more flexible than the English chairs, and were often used in outdoor courtyards, parks, and gardens in addition to dining rooms and offices. Because of this, they were frequently painted or stained green. Other specialized forms were developed by chair makers throughout the 18th century, including the “brace back,” the “Philadelphia,” the “sack back,” the “smoker’s bow,” and the “wheel back,” to name a few, as well as versions featuring armrests or writing palettes. Most variations fall into three general categories: low-back, high-back with a straight top called a “comb,” and high-back curved into a semicircle called a “hoop.”
Windsor styles and features
Part of what makes the Windsor so steady and visually appealing is the design’s mix of radial and bilateral symmetry. Since the chair’s turned legs radiate outward from the seat, they distribute weight broadly and feel less inclined to tip, while the bulk of the Windsor’s saddle seat is balanced by the thin spindles of its seat back. Negative space between the bars allows creates the illusion of lightness—a handy perk in an overcrowded area of the house. Windsor chairs are also deceptively strong: Typically, each seat is carved from one solid piece of wood, then scooped out and sanded to fit the rough shape of a human rear end.
Early Windsor chairs were “typically handmade, with a profile almost too thin to seem stable,” says Martin Horner, principal at Chicago studio Soucie Horner Design Collective. Yet the opposite is true: The Windsor’s sturdiness is a foundational aspect of the design. Horner thinks it is the chair’s comfortable frame, which is “carved to form to the body,” that creates the casual elegance that makes this design so iconic. “My parents had them in our breakfast room,” Horner says of his childhood home. The style felt as appropriate for their country home in the 1970s as it might for any other locale or era.
Contemporary Windsor chairs
Today, the popularity of the Windsor chair continues, upheld by aficionados of the form’s simple, functional beauty. The Windsor is also a beloved target for designer reinvention, each iteration riffing on the original parameters while exploring new features, materials, shapes, and finishes. It seems we’ll forever be pushing the boundaries of what this humble chair might be.