Furniture and other decorative objects by Charles…

Furniture and other decorative objects by Charles Rohlfs are advertised and offered by Chicago retailer Marshall Field beginning in 1899, but sales fall short of expectations.

Rohlfs designed and made furniture for his family's use as early as 1888, but he did not commence his decade-long career as a professional furniture maker until 1897.

Rohlfs has had no professional training as a furniture maker.

By century's end, Rohlfs has set up a shop on Washington Street in downtown Buffalo and begun producing examples of what he calls "artistic furniture" or the "Rohlfs style."  

Rohlfs was born in Brooklyn and studied at the Cooper Union in Manhattan.

As a young man, he worked as a stove pattern-maker while pursuing his career as an actor

He received several patents for stove designs, but had limited success as an actor.

He married the successful crime novelist Anna Katharine Green in 1884, continued his career in the stove industry after their marriage, and later made another attempt to establish his reputation as an actor.

Rohlfs's father-in-law had been prominent in the Republican Party in New York City, and in 1896, Rohlfs participated in public debates in support of William McKinley's presidential campaign.