Edward Holmes and Simeon Haines, cabinetmakers in Empire New York City

Magazine Antiques, May, 2005 by Erik Rini

Through the eyes of a cabinetmaker in the 1820s, New York City must have surely resembled a paradise of opportunity. Cheap immigrant labor, myriad patrons willing and able to purchase furnishings in the newest styles, and the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, which expanded commerce westward, created numerous opportunities for financial gain. Between 1820 and 1850 the population of the city swelled by more than 60 percent to more than two hundred thousand inhabitants, (1) and the demand to furnish their houses with objects of status rose dramatically. Among the many furniture makers who responded to this demand was the partnership of Edward Holmes and Simeon Haines, which was established in 1825.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Edward Holmes was born between 1780 and 1790 and first appeared in the 1821-1822 New York City directory as a cabinetmaker located on Broad Street at the corner of Stone Street in Manhattan. The value of his property at this time, which included the contents of the shop, was assessed at three thousand dollars, and it grew to eighty-five hundred dollars by the time Holmes and Haines was initiated. (2) Simeon Haines was born in Burlington, New Jersey, on August 30, 1800. (3) He first appears in the city directories when the firm of Holmes and Haines began operations at 20 Beaver Street. Haines's previous training in furniture production has not been established, but he presumably had some skills since he became a partner in a furniture-making business. His wife, Elsey Ann Holmes (1806-1883), may have been one of Edward Holmes's relatives. (4)

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

[FIGURE 2 OMITTED]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

When the firm of Holmes and Haines began operations, competition between New York cabinetmakers was fierce. Established and well-respected craftsmen such as Michael Allison, Deming and Bulkley, Joseph Meeks and Sons, and Duncan Phyfe were all working at this time. In fact, Joseph Meeks (1771-1868) owned the properties at 43, 45, and 50 Broad Street in very close proximity to Holmes's shop at 48 Broad Street. This competition may very well explain why Holmes and Haines possibly supplemented their income by holding auctions at their 151 Broadway location in 1828, where they offered carpets, glassware, curtains, books, jewelry, pianofortes, paintings, rare engravings, and even coats, in addition to new and secondhand furniture. (5)

The furniture produced by Holmes and Haines was typical of the Empire style in New York City, with mahogany usually serving as the primary wood, often elaborate stenciled decorations, acanthus-based carvings, and gilt-brass mounts. Although only seven extant pieces with a Holmes and Haines label or a stenciled mark are currently known, they offer a good representation of the quality of furniture sold by the shop, which, when judged purely on an aesthetic basis, appears to have been intended for New Yorkers who had more rather than less disposable income. The group consists of two dressing bureaus, two pier tables, one card table, one worktable, and one sideboard.

The dressing bureau in Plate II is distinctively New York, with its flaring scrolled mirror supports, stenciled facade, and heavy paw feet. (6) It bears a paper label engraved "H. & H." at the top and the number 154 handwritten on the bottom (Pl. IIa), probably an inventory number of some type. The other known Holmes and Haines dressing bureau (Pl. III) bears a stenciled mark (Pl. V) that includes two addresses--48 Broad and 20 Beaver Streets--dating it to 1825 to 1826, the only years the firm is listed at both those addresses. The main visual differences between the two labeled examples is that the one in Plate III has two vertically stacked drawers under each of the carved mirror brackets. Several other examples of this form have come onto the market over the years attributed to Holmes and Haines (see Pl. IV), but dressing bureaus were also produced in other New York shops, so attributions must be considered very carefully. (7) The labeled Holmes and Haines pier table in Plate IX epitomizes the refined style New Yorkers fancied at the time, with the bold Doric marble columns of the Greek revival movement, cornucopia stenciling (see Pl. I), and carved lion's paw feet below gilded foliated wings. (8) It too bears the engraved H. & H. label, inscribed with the handwritten number 58 (Pl. IXa). The other pier table, which is thought to have been made for the Pierpont family of Brooklyn, (9) is a more modest variation of the form (Pl. VI). Its H. & H. label is inscribed with the number 146 in pencil. The only known card table (Fig. 1) and sideboard (Fig. 2) from the shop are presently known only through photographs in auction catalogues. Both bear the H. & H. label, the one affixed to the sideboard inscribed with the number 144. (10) The only known worktable from the shop (Pl. VII) bears the same stenciled mark as the dressing bureau in Plate III, but it has been printed on a paper label (Pl. VIIa). (11)