Mid-Century Hutch and Room Divider by Bassett
A mid-century room divider/hutch from the Symbol 65 Collection by Bassett Furniture from Snowdrift Antiques.
Bassett Furniture was founded in Martinsville, VA in 1903 from a sawmill family that was looking for new uses for its lumber. By 1917, Company sales reached $1 million. But family members had started new companies that ultimately competed with each other for sales. In 1930, a “house divided” meeting was called and the different companies were incorporated into Bassett Furniture Industries, Inc., in 1931. Today, Bassett is a well-recognized name in the furniture industry.
This credenza/hutch/room divider is from Bassett’s Symbol 65 line from the early 1960s. The line’s advertising tag was “new drama in design”. This hard to find line was designed by Pierre Debs, who also designed for Stanley Furniture. This piece exhibits clean, mid-century lines and solid construction. It is designed to be placed anywhere in a room as the back of the credenza is finished and the top section door and drawers open from both sides.
The Bassett advertisement from 1963 describes the elements as “rich Burton Walnut veneers” and “bold brick Flemish relief” with “burnished brass hardware”.
This highly functional piece has space for storage below with a double door section with a shallow drawer behind it and three wide drawers. The top of the three drawers has 3 felt lined sections for silverware. The top drawer also has the Bassett mark on the left inside. Up top is space for display as well as space accessible from either side with three shallow drawers and a storage section covered by a door on each side.
This two section room divider measures 58 inches wide by 18 inches deep and stands 69 inches high in total.
This piece is in excellent vintage condition. There is only the lightest signs of normal wear. There is one small area of dark spots on the shelf above the crdeneza. See image 10.
This is a gorgeous, hard to find mid-century piece that can sit along a wall or in the middle of it.
