The History of the Chesterfield Sofa

The earliest Chesterfield Sofas are a far cry from the Chesterfields we see today. Typically they would be raised on mahogany legs, with a drop arm, and would be upholstered in fabric as opposed to leather. Often, these Chesterfields would neglect the deep buttoning process, depending on the skill of the upholsterer at the time.

These models can still be found today, though they are substantially different in structure and build to common Chesterfields found today. These Chesterfield Sofas would use coil-sprung and pocket sprung springs, springs that coil and run vertically, tied in with jute webbing and held in place with layers of hessian.

A very time consuming process, the most traditional of upholstery techniques. After 100 years, these Chesterfields have long outlived their upholsterer - a true testament to the Quality of the Chesterfield Sofa. They upholstered with nails, not staples, and several layers of horse hair and hessian, before the upholstery is applied. A sofa such as this would take around 60-100 hours to construct by hand. Our own collection will be arriving soon.

The Chesterfield Sofa became synonymous with British Craftsmanship, a design icon, that is growing in popularity for the quality of the build, and the day to day strength the Chesterfield Sofa provides. Found throughout the 1920s and 1930s in both gentleman's clubs, and the Military Officers Mess, as a premium quality Chesterfield Sofa, with the distinctive low back and deep buttoning.

Towards the end of the 20th Century, the Chesterfield Sofa boomed with popularity. Still a prestigious piece, the Chesterfield Sofa took a turn for the worse. Modern production techniques enabled manufacturers to utilise all of the leather available, quite simply stitching off cuts of leather together and recolouring them to ensure a consistent colour. Though they looked good for the first few years, as the Chesterfield Sofa wears, green, blue and brown leather would be visible as the red finish wore through, for example. Not only this, because each of the diamonds is individual to the next, problems arose with stitching, and buttons popping. The sides and backs would often be vinyl, as opposed to leather. These Chesterfields are always cheap, they use cheap frames and inferior foam - they look similar to the Chesterfield Sofa, but they are certainly not the same. In the trade, these Chesterfields have been coined "demics". We do not sell demic Chesterfields, we sell only high quality chesterfields, cut with full hides of leather, around solid beech frames and high quality foam, with full leather side panels and backs. This does inflate the component cost and upholstery cost massively, though it produces a Chesterfield Sofa with a quality second to none.

All of our Chesterfield Sofas use steel serpentine springs, tied together with silent wire & webbing for strength and longevity. This enables us to make the best of use the Serpentine Spring, and ensures our Chesterfields will last long into the future, as well as remaining keenly priced. The cheapest Chesterfields online use only webbing, which will stretch and give within 1-2 years of upholstery. This is certainly not what we do.

Hilldown Ltd aims to furnish your home with items of quality. Chesterfield Sofas and Chesterfield Chairs you will be proud to hand from one generation to the next. For more information on our Chesterfield Furniture, or if you have any questions regarding our Chesterfields, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us on 01264 773 997, or email info@chesterfieldheritage.co.uk for more information, our sales team will be only too happy to help.