User:Aerdrycks/Charles Limbert

BIOGRAPHY

Charles P. Limbert (xxxx 00, 1856 - xxxx 00, 1923) was a major producer of fine and unique American Arts and Crafts furniture during the first two decades of the twentieth century. His best furniture is regarded by collectors today as on a par with Gustav Stickley.

Limbert was born in Linesville, a small town in northwest Pennsylvania just a few miles from the Ohio border. In 1866 his father, Levi H. Limbert, moved the family to Akron, Ohio, where he became a leading furniture dealer, eventually introducing Charles and his younger brother, Alden (Ollie) into the business when they came of age. Possibly from the financial panic of 1877 or the pressure of providing for a sizable family, Levi abandoned them in the late 1870s forcing Charles to strike out on his own in his early twenties. His first venture was most likely as a supplier of carriages at a location almost across the street from his father's last business address on North Howard Street in Akron's Hall Corners. He eventually returned to the furniture business as a salesman during the late 1880s and early 1890s in Indiana and Chicago.

In 1892 Charles teamed with xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx to form the xxxxxxx and xxxxxxxx Chair Company. Charles' company was located in Grand Rapids until 1906 when he moved the entire operation to Holland, a town some twenty miles to the west on Lake Michigan.

INFLUENCES

Limbert's furniture was heavily influenced by earlier Dutch Arts and Crafts artisans, Scottish architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh and others. It is not known which individual designs can actually be attributed to Charles' hand (he employed several noted designers at different times throughout the company's Dutch Arts and Crafts period [1902-1918]) but he did travel extensively throughout Europe looking for ideas to adapt or use as inspiration.

LEGACY

With the renewed interest in the Arts and Crafts movement in America during the 1990s and beyond Charles P. Limbert's work has become a major influence on a new generation of furniture designers.