HIGHLY IMPORTANT, UNIQUE ROSE VALLEY COUCH

“Hall Couch for Mr. Jos. Holmes,” designed by William Lightfoot and made in the woodworking shop at Rose Valley, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, or Edward Maene’s shop, 309 Griscom Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1905. White oak. H.25 3/4”, W. 84 1/2,” D. 21 1/2”. (photo, Gavin Ashworth.) An inscription on the drawings indicates that Holmes ordered this couch on December 12, 1905. The couch as realized, which bears the Rose Valley brand, has heraldic lions rather than the alternative eagles.

The couch is reproduced in “William Lightfoot Price: His Furniture and Its Context,” Robert Edwards, figures 41 and 42, American Furniture 2012, edited by Luke Beckerdite, The Chipstone Foundation, distributed by University Press of New England.

William Lightfoot Price, design for a “Hall Couch for Mr. Jos. Holmes,” Rose Valley, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, December 5, 1905, Graphite on paper: The preliminary drawing apparently offers a choice of carved lions or eagles.

The Holmes hall couch has remained in the same private collection since 1943 and has never been offered for sale. It was exhibited in “From Arts and Crafts To Modern Design: The Architecture of William L. Price,” University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, May through September, 2000 and the National Building Museum, Washington, D.C., August 21, 2001 - March 24, 2002.

The central monogram (“H” for Holmes) appears on one rail only; the other rail is plain in the center. The leaf-carved roundels appear on carved panels in some Price-designed interiors, but they are very unusual on Rose Valley furniture as are the lion-paw feet.