Buy Antique Church Pews Free
Of course, with luxurious vintage or antique furnishings, every chair can seem like the best seat in the house. Whether your preference is stretching out on a plush sofa, such as the Serpentine, designed by Vladimir Kagan, or cozying up in a vintage wingback chair, there is likely to be a comfy classic or contemporary gem for you on 1stDibs.
buy antique church pews
The church was an old brick church called the Iglesia Pentecostal Hispana and was built in circa 1848. And it was filled with 36 Antique Gothic Church Pews. Pastor Jorge wanted to bring in newer church pews for his congregation. He wanted to replace these old church pews with newer, more comfortable ones with upholstered backs and seats.
The church, while certainly showing its age, had an incredible Gothic Revival style. Obviously built in the Victorian period, it had large wooden beams in the vaulted ceiling, incredible stained glass windows and beautiful newel posts and staircase.
In rough, untouched condition, antique church pews probably are not worth too much. For instance, even though most antique church pews are solid wood (commonly, church pews are oak or walnut), their condition and design greatly affects their value.
So, if antique church pews look very worn, many people opt to place them on porches or in rooms where they can take a beating. So, obviously, they are still useful benches, but really probably sell for a couple hundred dollars at the most.
However, if you are willing to restore an antique church pew, and possibly shorten it, you could see a higher economic return. After fully restored and resized, most of our antique walnut church pews sold for between $600 and $1200. So, yes, antique church pews can be valuable antiques on the market today.
After stripping the old 1920s ugly dark floor stain from the pews. We realized these antique church pews had an amazing surprise. On the ends of each pew, were two carved gothic arches inset with beautiful burl walnut!
Restoring the antique church pews took lots of time, space and energy. Seeing that most of our clients would not have room for a full 12 foot pew, we had the foresight to cut almost all the pews in half when picking them up. (This also made it easier for us to carry and load. Remember: third floor, people.)
Then, we carefully pried the end off of one pew. Using lots of sandpaper and a chemical stripper, we were able to remove the thick brown stain from the pews. Also, most of the graffiti and deep initial-carving sanded out as well. The gum, surprisingly, took more muscle. We had to use a metal scraper to remove that.
At this point, we realized that the seats and backs of our church pews were solid ash wood. The sides were beautiful walnut wood. As mentioned before, they also had a really lovely burl walnut insert in each one, completely hidden by the deep dark stain.
In highlighting these burl walnut inserts, these antique church pews really came back to life! The movement and pattern in the burl walnut reminded me of the wavy antique stained glass in the church. When stained and finished with lacquer (we prefer Mohawk Brand lacquer), these little burl walnut inserts looked like beautiful stained glass windows.
Because our pews had a chunky scrolled arm with base, we were able to pretty easily make different length pews. We simply cut the back and seat (which was ash wood) to the correct size. After some experimentation, we found people like the 4 foot, 5 foot and 6 foot lengths the best.
In the end, we went with a golden oak color for the seat and back, and a richer brown for the sides. This seemed to really enhance the character of the pews. Also, the colors really seemed to meld nicely and give the church pews a rich antique look.
Refinishing the church pews was a labor of love. (Believe me, we were sick of working on church pews after a few months!) However, refinishing the church pews brought them back to life and really made them lovely again!
About 90 percent of the church pews we took from the church in Reading could be saved. A few from the load were totally unsalvageable, due to the fact that they were fixed or cobbled together over the years. And, we did end up painting a few that were too badly stained to stain.
(While the spray lacquer can really hold up to some abuse, it probably would deteriorate with the weather. So, if you plan to put an antique church pew outside in the elements, consider weatherproofing it with some heavy duty outdoor grade stains and finishes.)
One of our clients in California had lost her home in the fires and had been looking for a church pew for years. Another wanted a special piece for his Maryland farmhouse. One family took their holiday photos on the church pew and are hoping to continue that tradition. Finally, one client was happy to order two antique pews for their eat-in kitchen in their vacation home in North Carolina.
Many of these new and returning clients told us they loved the Gothic style of these particular pews. Some also really loved that they were saved from such an old church. Indeed, the unique look and incredible quality of these pews caught the eye of a very distinguished client.
At our antique shop, we always advise our clients to mix a little old with new. Layering some unique pieces with soul and history always leads to a more interesting and conversational interior design. Indeed, this love of an eclectic mix inspired the name of our shop, Bohemians.
Thank you to all who purchased church pews from us! Special thanks to Pastor Jorge at the Iglesia Pentecostal Hispana Church in Reading. And thank you to the Museum of Modern Art in New York, especially Erica, Dana and Sarah. We cannot wait to visit soon!
The dark hardwood pews are about 10 feet in length with hymnal racks on the back and a four-circle Gothic design on the aisle side. They are original to the church and are in solid shape after 111 years.
Typical of Unitarian church design, the building was noted for its residential home look when dedicated in 1908. The exterior is Tudor Revival with the interior completed in the Arts and Crafts tradition.
Allen Development bought the historic church property when its congregation, now officially known as the Unitarian Universalist Society, voted to move to a new building in Coralville in 2015. An adjacent parking lot was purchased from the city to allow for the housing development.
Yapp pointed out that women have always played a strong role in Unitarian church history. As a tribute to that heritage, Allen Development named its new housing project surrounding the church Augusta Place after Augusta Chapin, who in 1869 was the first female minister in Iowa City. She was also said to be the first woman to earn a Doctor of Divinity degree in the United States.
UKAA have a large selection Of Church pews for sale. UKAA buy Church pews direct from Churches across the country that are either refurbishing or being made redundant. Church pews make excellent seating for kitchen and dining tables. They also work well within a combination of Church Chairs. A Church pew in a hallway always looks very nice. The Church pews that we currently have in stock are pine, pitch pine and oak. Reclaimed Church pews are available in varying lengths. We have large selection of salvaged Church pews that are ideal for the restaurant trade. A Church Pew is an excellent piece of furniture in any room of the home. Each pew is processed in our workshops; we treat them all for woodworm, make any necessary repairs, and finally offer them for sale.Click Here To View Our Church Pews That We Have For Sale The History of Church pews
From the 1600s through the mid 1800s, Churchgoers of most denominations were seated in their houses of worship according to social rank, whether by assignment or purchase. This expressed a nearly universal Christian perception of social rank as part of a divinely ordered hierarchy of creation. The highest ranking pews were close to the pulpit, the lowest furthest from the pulpit. Private pews gave rise to the practice of numbering pews for easy record keeping.
Some pews were set aside as general seating for special groups. Such as adolescents, the poor, widows, the hard-of-hearing, and black people. In the USA there would also be pews specifically for the use of black people (free or enslaved) and Native Americans. Often the Negro Pews would be in upper galleries, as far as possible from the pulpit. White people would be appointed to oversee or monitor them. Slave owners purchased pew space for their slaves in their Churches, just as they did for themselves. From the 1840s to the 1930s churches gradually shifted from private pews to free and open seating, giving rise to the term "free Church". Old pew numbers and labels are still found on pews today.
This transition occurred in a society that was increasingly democratic in its outlook toward white people, but remained racially segregated. The adoption of free seating must have placed black Americans in an ambivalent social position; especially where old "Negro" labels remained in place. Most of the liturgical fittings in an average Church, such as the pulpit and pews, were installed in the 19th century. Only fonts are likely to be older. During the Reformation Churches were stripped of all of their images, all the stained glass and brightly coloured pictures of saints and religious figures would have been destroyed.
The congregation almost never had pews or Chapel chairs until the Reformation. In the great Cathedrals, the only place to sit was along the low stone shelf that ran along the side walls of the building, where sat those who were too weak or ill to stand; hence the saying, "The weak go to the wall." After the Civil War, religious life calmed down. Most Churches received new fittings, such as pulpits and box pews. Old fittings were often swept away during late 19th Century restorations. 19th-century restorers believed that they were putting the Church back to what it had been in the middle ages, but in the process they often threw away a great deal of history. Guide books often refer to 19th-century restorations as 'modern', but as we move into the 21st century, they too are becoming part of history. By the early 19th century, the old parish system was on the verge of collapse. Its boundaries had been set in the 12th century, and the landscape of England had changed enormously since then. Growing cities like Birmingham, Liverpool, London and Manchester were particularly badly served, especially around their formerly rural fringes. Even if there was a Church nearby, there was no guarantee that you could get a pew to sit on. In most Churches, the pews were rented out to individual families - often a pew belonged to a house. This placed a great pressure on space, as no one else could sit there. Galleries along the sides and back of the nave for free seating were built to try and cope with this problem, but even this often was insufficient to meet the expanding congregation. This was one reason why there was a programme of Church building in the 19th century on a scale not seen in England since the 12th century. 041b061a72