Thomas C. Molesworth (1890–1977) was a master American furniture designer who was a significant figure in the creation of a distinctly Western style of furniture and accessories, using hides, horn and natural wood. Molesworth's style drew from the Arts and Crafts Movement and from vernacular design characteristics of western American ranches and farms. He is credited with popularizing the "cowboy furniture" style. To produce his designs, Molesworth operated the Shoshone Furniture Company from 1931 to 1961 in Cody, Wyoming.

Molesworth was born in Kansas and attended the Art Institute of Chicago. He worked in Chicago for a furniture company, then enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps and served as a corporal in France in 1917. Returning after the war, he worked in a bank in South Dakota, then managed the Rowe Furniture Company in Billings, Montana. Molesworth moved his family, including LaVerne and his children Lee and Jean to Cody in May, 1931.

Molesworth's company and career received a major boost in 1933 when he was commissioned by publisher Moses Annenberg to design the interior furnishings for Annenberg's Ranch A retreat near Beulah, Wyoming. Annenberg noticed Molesworth's work in the company's storefront in Cody and gave him the commission for the new ranch. Molesworth created 245 pieces of furniture for Ranch A, as well as lighting fixtures and accessories, choosing Navajo rugs and taxidermy to set off his designs. Many of the furnishings from Ranch A are conserved at the Wyoming State Museum.

Molesworth furniture furnished the TE Ranch in Cody, the Plains Hotel in Cheyenne, Wyoming, the Wort Hotel in Jackson, Wyoming, the Pendleton Hotel in Pendleton, Oregon, the Stockman's Hotel in Elko, Nevada the Ferris Hotel in Rawlins, Wyoming and the Northern Hotel in Billings. He sold individual pieces to a number of hotels in Wyoming and Montana. Other major Molesworth commissions include the Pahaska Tepee Ski Lodge (burned 1942), the Old Lodge and the Sumers Lodge in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, the Rockefeller ranch in Jackson, and U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower's house in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

After his death his work gained in popularity after the 1989 exhibition Interior West: The Craft and Style of Thomas Molesworth at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody and in 1990 at the Autry National Center in Los Angeles.

Western High Life...Thomas Molesworth Designs

The Design Process...

When Streamline Modern, begins the design process, the aim is not only to produce a piece of furniture of lasting quality, but also to create a work of art. Each piece starts on the drawing board, where an idea is converted into a working sketch, often applying the tastes or requirements of a specific customer. We then then hand selects choice pieces of wood to work with the design sketch. Back on the board, we completes the drawing until the curves and burls of the chosen wood fall together to form an aesthetically pleasing look, comfort and function.

















































































































Streamline Modern can create custom Molesworth furniture, lighting and the best Western Designs in the world. Living Rooms, Sofas, Chairs, Tables, Cabinets, Bedrooms, Beds, Dressers, Dining Rooms, Dining Tables and Chairs, Sideboards, and more, you provide the direction of what you want, we’ll create the inspiration.


For more information

please contact:


Dan Oliver

Streamline Modern

doliver@streamlinemodern.com

561-670-8888


Kay Patterson

Streamline Modern

kpatterson@streamlinemodern.com

970-986-7542


Dennis Kirtland

Streamline Modern

dkirtland@streamlinemodern.com

970-985-3341


or check out other great objects at

www.streamlinemodern.com