Have a Seat and Try This History of Furniture Quiz

The secretary desk, a French invention from the early 18th century, was specifically designed for writing. The bottom half had cupboards and drawers while the top half had a drop front to serve as a writing surface. When the front was unfolded, it revealed cubbies for things like inkwells, pens, and paper.

The White House’s Resolute Desk — which has been used by nearly every U.S. President since Rutherford B. Hayes — was a gift to President Hayes from Queen Victoria in 1880. The wood for it came from the oak timbers of the British ship HMS “Resolute.” The ship was part of an Arctic expedition, but was trapped in the ice and abandoned in 1854.

Leave it to a cabinetmaker to design a piece of furniture that’s equally as good for organization. In 1803, British furniture designer Thomas Sheraton published a drawing of four nesting tables in his book “The Cabinet Dictionary.” Though it was the first illustration of the style, the design wasn’t new — the Smithsonian Design Museum estimates that nesting tables first appeared in the 1740s.

The Noguchi coffee table, designed by American artist and architect Isamu Noguchi, is an iconic piece of midcentury furniture. It was first designed in 1939 as a three-legged table with a glass top. The design evolved in 1944 to be a glass top with two interlocking wood pieces as the base.

A wingback chair looks just like its name: a chair with a high back that curves forward on the sides, giving the chair the appearance of wings. It’s more than just a stylistic choice, though. When the chair was invented in late 17th-century England, most homes were heated by a fireplace, and the wings were designed to block drafts and trap in heat from the fire.

Charles Darwin is well known for his theories on human evolution, but we also have the naturalist to thank for the evolution of the humble chair. In the 1840s, Darwin wanted an easier way to pivot between work spaces in his office; he took a wooden chair, removed the legs, and replaced them with cast-iron bed legs attached to caster wheels, creating the prototype of the modern rolling office chair.

The iconic Chesterfield Sofa, with high arms and tufted leather upholstery, was invented in London in the mid-1700s. Lord Philip Stanhope, the fourth Earl of Chesterfield, had it commissioned because he wanted a piece of furniture that wouldn’t wrinkle his suit when he sat down. After he died, the prototype for the sofa was given to his godson, who showed it off to his guests, popularizing the style.

The sideboard — a long table-like piece of furniture that has cabinets and drawers — was invented in the late 18th century in England. It was designed as a way to show off fancy tableware and china during meals, and was generally displayed on a wall of the dining room alongside the dining table.

The most popular theory for the origin of the chaise-style “fainting couch” dates back to Victorian-era England, in the 1800s. During this time, women wore tight corsets, making it difficult for them to breathe. Women would sometimes feel faint from the restriction, and these couches served as a place for them to lay down and rest, or gather themselves after fainting.

The Shakers, a Protestant Christian sect founded in England in 1747, settled throughout the eastern United States in the late 18th century. Shaker communities were largely self-sufficient, and even made their own furniture. Shaker furniture became well known for its high quality and minimalist design, and remains a popular style today.