Making Built-In Furniture by Abbot McClure explores the cupboards, seats, chests, bookcases, and other fitted pieces that make a house work better. Published in 1914, this compact illustrated volume considers built-in furniture as part of the room itself: its placement, proportions, construction, finish, and relationship to the movable furniture around it.
For readers interested in practical homes and self-sufficient living, the book offers ideas for using limited space thoughtfully. It is especially relevant to anyone studying small-house storage, traditional interiors, or the ways a window recess, corner, or wall can support more than one household purpose. Photographs and line illustrations accompany the discussion, showing fitted furniture in actual interiors as well as individual designs.
Book details
- Title: Making Built-In Furniture
- Author: Abbot McClure
- Publisher: McBride, Nast & Company, New York
- Publication year: 1914; the copyright page states publication in February 1914
- Edition: No numbered edition is stated on the title page
- Language: English
- Format: Illustrated scanned PDF; the book pages are image scans
- Length: 91 PDF pages, including preliminary and unnumbered leaves
- File size: 1.92 MB
What Making Built-In Furniture covers
Planning furniture as part of the house
The opening section introduces and classifies built-in furniture, considering both pieces planned when a house is built and those added afterward. McClure also distinguishes furniture by purpose and the material used for its finish. This approach helps readers look beyond the appearance of a single cabinet and consider how it belongs within the whole room.
He argues for good workmanship and suitable wood, while warning against using fixed furniture to excess. Built-in pieces are meant to supplement movable furnishings, not displace every table and chair. The discussion is particularly attentive to small houses and apartments, where compact storage can be valuable but poorly chosen fittings can make a room feel rigid or crowded.
Closets, cupboards, and drawers
The storage chapter considers the practical and visual roles of fitted cupboards and related furniture. Examples include china storage, a corner cupboard, and a linen cupboard beside a hall window. McClure discusses arrangements in which the lower portion can conceal household supplies while the upper part displays or stores other objects.
These examples invite the reader to consider what must be kept close at hand, what needs a closed compartment, and how storage can fit the architecture already present. For a household trying to organize supplies without adding freestanding furniture everywhere, the book is a useful historical source of spatial ideas. Its illustrations also show how cabinet fronts and surrounding woodwork can be treated as one composition.
Seats, chests, and places to rest
Another section looks at seats and chests, including the relationship between a fixed seat and the surfaces around it. The text discusses seating placed along the side of a room and integrated into its setting. It considers how a bench may relate to a stair, a wall, or the form of an inglenook.
The appeal of these examples is the connection between comfort and efficient use of space. A fitted seat can make an otherwise awkward edge of a room useful, while a chest introduces another way to combine furniture and storage. Readers studying older houses will also find the period vocabulary and illustrations helpful when identifying the intended use of an existing feature.
Bookcases, sideboards, dressers, and smaller fittings
The later chapters turn to bookcases, sideboards, dressers, and miscellaneous built-in pieces. Illustrated examples include glazed bookcases, a built-in sideboard, and writing desks placed for light. The discussion of desks emphasizes the importance of a good light source and considers their relationship to windows and surrounding furniture.
Across these subjects, the book returns to the same practical question: how can a fitted piece serve a household purpose while fitting the room gracefully? It gives readers a collection of examples to compare, rather than presenting every interior as a problem with a single correct answer.
Who will enjoy this book
This volume suits readers interested in traditional home design, furniture history, small-space planning, and woodworking inspiration. It is more useful as an illustrated discussion of design and placement than as a modern, step-by-step cabinetmaking course. A reader can study the examples, make notes about useful arrangements, and then develop a project appropriate to their own building and abilities.
It also belongs beside practical household references in Ardbark’s homestead collection and self-sufficiency books. Thoughtful storage, usable work areas, and durable furnishings all contribute to a home that is easier to maintain and use.
About this scanned edition
The PDF preserves the original page images, including library markings and some blank leaves. The main book pages do not provide searchable text, so the contents page is the best starting point for browsing. Its early twentieth-century designs and construction assumptions should be evaluated in the context of the particular home where a new fitting is proposed.
Read Making Built-In Furniture
Explore Abbot McClure’s illustrated guide to fitted household furniture in the 1.92 MB PDF below.
