Oval-back chair with dimity slipcover

Baltimore Oval-Back Chairs Restored

Ongoing

Homewood Museum
Guided Tour

In 2019, Homewood launched a Dress-A-Chair fundraising campaign to outfit six Baltimore-made, oval-back chairs with custom reproduction slipcovers. Work on the chairs is now complete and can be admired in a small exhibit in the Reception Hall that includes information on the chairs, as well as an exhibit case exploring joinery and upholstery. Included with regular admission.

The oval-back frame is a particular favorite style that came out of Baltimore in the early nineteenth century. Each chair also features an example of the famous Baltimore bellflower, a carved motif favored by Baltimore furniture-makers.

The design of the slipcover was chosen based on early nineteenth-century period imagery and modeled off of reproductions produced recently by Colonial Williamsburg for similar chairs. We consulted with several Mid-Atlantic curators before determining that white dimity with a ruffled skirt would be an appropriate fit for a property used as a summer estate. The fabric was woven on a loom by Rabbit Goody up in New York and the slipcovers were made by Alan Ibello from Baltimore.

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exhibition flyer

A History of Houseplants

October 1, 2022-June 4, 2023

Evergreen Museum & Library
Free

This exhibition explores the forces that catalyzed the Victorian obsession with houseplants, reveals how the trend manifested at Evergreen and in Baltimore, and examines how today’s houseplant craze both recalls and differs from the Victorian version of 150 years ago.

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