Isaac Elwood Scott (1845 – 1920) American Furniture Designer

Isaac Elwood Scott (1845 – 1920) was an American furniture designer, woodcarver, and ceramicist born in Philadelphia and active in Philadelphia, Chicago, New York, and Boston.

Biography

He settled in Chicago in 1873 and established a reputation for his skilful woodcarving. For Chicago Terra Cotta, he created models of architectural decorations. In 1875, he founded Scott and Copeland, Designers, Carvers, and Art Wood Workers, in collaboration with the architect Frederick W. Copeland. In 1875, Mr and Mrs John J. Glessner hired him to make furniture for their Chicago home at 261 West Washington Boulevard. The 1878 coach house for the Glessner residence was created by Scott and Asa Lyon, an architect and furniture designer, respectively. Scott started creating textiles and embroidery patterns in the early 1880s. He instructed woodcarving at the Chicago Society of Decorative Art from 1882 to 1884. He created the Glessner summer residence at The Rocks, close to Littleton, New Hampshire, in 1883.

He collaborated with Henry S. Jaffray from 1882 to 1884 to create the interiors and design of Warder, Bushnell, and Glessner’s new Chicago headquarters at Jefferson and Adams Streets. They also created a six-story Chicago office building and another house. Scott relocated to New York in 1884, and by 1887, he had designed the interior of 1129 Broadway. He relocated to Boston in 1888, becoming active in woodcarving and began instructing craft classes at the Eliot School. Scott’s 1870s furniture was installed when H.H. Richardson designed the Glessners’ 1885 home at 1800 Prairie Avenue in Chicago.

Recognition

His work was included in a display of household furnishings at the 1875 Chicago ‘Inter-State Industrial Exposition’ and the 1987 ‘In Pursuit of Beauty’ exhibition at the New York Metropolitan Museum.

Sources

Apostles of Beauty: Arts and Crafts from Britain to Chicago. (2009). United Kingdom: Art Institute of Chicago.

Bolger, D. (1986). In Pursuit of Beauty: Americans and the Aesthetic Movement. United States: Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Byars, M., & Riley, T. (2004). The design encyclopedia. Laurence King Publishing. https://amzn.to/3ElmSlL

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