At the turn of the twentieth century, the growing giant that would become industrial America was saddled with two primary furniture styles: Golden Oak and Colonial Revival. Of course, there were other looks like the last bits of Renaissance Revival and the beginning struggles of Art Nouveau, but they were secondary to the two majors. As with most styles and periods both were fashions influenced by events outside the realm of furniture.
The Golden Oak period came about as the result of the diminished availability of walnut stock to make furniture. Walnut had been the primary wood of the Victorian revival styles, Rococo and Renaissance, supplemented occasionally by rosewood and other exotics. As the supply dwindled the next most commercially viable product was oak, especially when the concept of quarter cutting came into fashion revealing the incredible figuring within the wood.
The Colonial Revival was born as the result of rising patriotic fervor kindled by the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in1876. The stalwarts of Victorian society believed that if furniture of the Colonial
