| Have you ever wondered who invented the corner | | | | leather, and is your favorite room in the house. |
| desk? No? I didn't think so, but neither had I until | | | | If you are a teacher, your light pine desk is not so |
| recently when I got to thinking, who invented this | | | | fancy, but still sits at the front of the classroom with |
| common, every day piece of office furniture? | | | | your switch and an apple on top. |
| Well, if you ever want to stump Google, then this is a | | | | Now, I do not think that the corner desk evolved from |
| good question to ask. I typed in "who invented the | | | | this standard style of antique desk. No, I think it more |
| corner desk," and the number one return on page one | | | | likely evolved from a roll top desk. Why, do you ask? |
| came from the Rabbi's Corner: Did you ever wonder | | | | After all, they do not look anything alike. Remember, |
| who invented Sunday School? Talk about way off | | | | this is pure speculation of thought, but who used a roll |
| mark! But just in case you are interested, Sunday | | | | top desk? Most often a book keeper, or other worker |
| school for Jewish students was invented in 1838 in | | | | who had a boss. With a roll top desk, you focus on |
| Philadelphia by a woman named Rebecca Gratz. I am | | | | your work at hand, and when you look up, do you see |
| not Jewish, but at least I now know who to thank for | | | | a lush office or view from a window? No, you see little |
| some of my childhood education (and adult since I still | | | | cubby holes and slots that hold more work or are a |
| attend some form of Sunday school today, currently | | | | reminder of the work that you are doing. |
| as a teacher). I wonder if Rebecca Gratz had a | | | | Sounds a lot like a corner desk, doesn't it? With the |
| corner desk? | | | | advent of the age of technology and computers, a |
| Probably not, because the original desk was designed | | | | computer just doesn't fit in a roll top desk very well. |
| to sit in the middle of a room, or at the front of the | | | | Think about it, a corner desk is very functional, as a |
| room if you were a teacher. Lets take a look at an old | | | | matter of fact, most modular furniture, that are often in |
| style office, often still found today if you are an | | | | cubicles, are corner desks molded to fit into a small |
| executive. Someone enters the office, and your desk | | | | work space. With a corner desk, you sit and look at |
| is in the middle, or back quarter of the room facing the | | | | your computer screen, or books, or items stashed |
| door. In front of your desk (remember, you sit behind | | | | away in small cubbies and shelves on the "hutch". With |
| the desk) are a couple of chairs for friends or clients | | | | a corner desk, you do not have lush leather chairs for |
| (sometimes your clients are your friends). Behind you | | | | your clients, or nice art, or a large window to enjoy the |
| are some book shelves, a window to one side, and | | | | view. |
| perhaps under the window is a small side bar. Your | | | | A corner desk is practical and functional, and designed |
| walls are also graced with classy art, perhaps a | | | | for the worker, just like the roll top desk. So, though I |
| portrait of a distinguished great grandfather in his | | | | cannot say for sure what the history is of the corner |
| military uniform. You have a safe concealed | | | | desk, I can speculate, and believe that I have come up |
| somewhere, or at least a few hidden compartments in | | | | with a fairly good theory on the evolution of the corner |
| your desk. Your office is finished in rich woods and | | | | desk. |