Cast with Style

Cast-iron stovemaking reached its highest artistic achievement with the advent of the cupola furnace, which permitted more elaborate designs and finer-quality castings. Stove designers borrowed freely from architectural and cabinetmakers, design books, a process that resulted in the use of Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and rococo revival motifs, as well as patriotic symbols. The range of stove types included Franklin, box, dumb, base-burning, parlor cook stoves, and ranges. However, the stoves that attracted the most attention and helped to secure the reputation of stoves were those produced during the 1830s and 1840s. These stoves were a focal point for a Victorian parlor because the overall designs incorporated current tastes in architecture, furniture, and other decorative arts.

The Albany Institute of History and Art is nationally known for its excellent collection of nineteenth-century cast-iron stoves, and some of the finest pieces from that collection are featured in this classic volume.

Tammis K. Groft is Deputy Director for Collections and Exhibitions at the Albany Institute of History and Art. She is the coeditor (with Mary Alice Mackay) of Albany Institute of History and Art: 200 Years of Collecting.