Chesterfield sofa was a general name applied to sofas throughout most of the 1900s especially in Great Britain, Canada, and the United States. The origin of the name has been debated. Some couch with led lights thought that the Chesterfield was named for the Fourth Earl of Chesterfield, Phillip Stanhope, who ordered an item of elegant but comfortable furniture sooner or later in the 18th Century. Stanhope’s requirements apparently generated the production of a sofa upholstered in generously buttoned, quilted leather, and with arms and back equal in height. Another theory is that the sofa style was named for a town in Derbyshire, England. Others believe the term refers to the buttoning, the design of the rear, or the height of the sofa seat. Wherever the name originated from, it was in wide use within the United States and Canada until the later area of the 20th Century.
While leather might be regarded as the conventional for the Chesterfield, in the Victorian era the Chesterfield sofa became highly popular but leather did not always suit their taste. As a result of this, it was the initial sofa to be completed covered in upholstery and in a wide selection of fabrics. Metal coiled springs were first applied to the Chesterfield in the 1830s. Comfort remained important therefore the springs were padded with horsehair topped with wadding.
Whilst the Chesterfield sofa has remained a desirable type of furniture for significantly more than 200 years, its price often managed to get out of reach of most people. This has changed in recent years. Currently, Chesterfield sofas are available at many price levels and in a vast array of covers. Fortunately the high-end epitome of luxury, the leather Chesterfield, still remains. People will always want quality and luxurious materials in their furniture therefore the Chesterfield sofa will more than likely continue for many years to come.