3. Gothic Revival Chair

This Gothic Revival side chair, c.1840-1845, is reported to have belonged to John Quincy Adams (1767-1848), the sixth president of the United States. It was donated in 1954 by Mrs. Lilly C. Stone, founder of the Montgomery County Historical Society. According to family history,it had been purchased by her grandmother at a sale of Adams’ personal property in Washington in 1852.

Son of founding father and second president John Adams, John Quincy Adams spent most of his adult life in service to his country, 38 years living in Washington. He became the only former president to serve in the House of Representatives, representing his Massachusetts district from 1831 until his death in the Capitol in 1848, after collapsing on the House floor.

It was during the later years of Adams’ lengthy House career that such a chair would have been acquired. Gothic Revival or “pointed style” furniture, made from the late 1830s through the 1860s, drew on elements of medieval architecture. This chair features a crest rail composed of a lancet arch ornamented with “crockets” (small leafy hooks) above an open back suggestive of a gallery balustrade.

After Adams’ death, his wife Louise Catherine remained in their home at 1333 F Street, NW, until her death in 1852. It was probably at that time that their son Charles Francis Adams, inheriting the house and its contents, would have sold some or all the furniture. The family of Dolley Madison’s sister also reportedly acquired from the Adams estate a Federal-style clothes press now found in the collection of The White House.

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