Writing Desks Throughout History

The evolution of the writing desk has met the needs from the earliest scribe to the writers of today. Historically several advancements and changes in the style of writing desk emerged from Victorian era Great Britain and later periods in the United States with cabinet makers from several countries modifying designs. Many contemporary designs pay homage to earlier models.

One of the earliest forms of the writing desk might surprise people now as it doesn’t look like your conventional desk. The scribe desk, as it was known then, was a portable box with a hinged lid that sloped down to allow for easy writing while the inside contained anything a scribe needed to perform their duties. A modern cousin to the scribe’s desk would be a portable writing desk.

Writing desks more in line with our contemporary thoughts of what a desk should like like began to appear with the large clerk’s desk of the mid to late 17th century. The basic model of the clerk’s desk was a scribe’s desk basically set on a raised stand. At first this was temporary and the stand could be moved, but eventually this design became permanent, paving the way to design changes that included drawers, design changes, and other factors.

While early changes came bit by bit, for a while nothing changed. Writing desks were simply copies of older ones until around 1700 with the idea of the “knee hole” writing desk. Is it hard to imagine a writing desk without a place to stick your knees and legs underneath? Well that’s how they used to be. As the functionality increased, so did the whim of artists who brought out more decorative features around this same time period.

During the Regency period of England a cabinet maker by the name of Chippendale introduced the Serpentine Fronted Knee-hole Desk as the new design standard. Several later designs can be traced back to his model. As more writing desks came into production cabinet makers in several countries modified the imported designs to create their own distinctive styles. In the United States the two most notable designs were the Shaker design and the Arts and Crafts design, featuring a back-to-basics commonality focusing more on function than ornamental form.

In today’s market it can be hard to tell a writing desk from a computer desk or other type of office furniture simply because while these terms used to be very different, the modern multi-task demands of most office works have helped to assure that virtually all desks have to be all three. Writing desks have survived and thrived by adapting to the needs of workers, and that continued ability to change and function will help insure that the writing desk has a bright future ahead of it, as well.

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