Partners desk

Model of the Resolute desk in the recreated Oval Office at the Jimmy Carter Library and Museum.

A partners desk, partner's desk or partners' desk (also double desk) is an antique desk form, which is basically two pedestal desks constructed from the start as one large desk joined at the front, for two users working while facing each other.

This piece of furniture was first conceived in the United Kingdom to accommodate the work of banking partners. These gentlemen were usually senior bank officials who wished to work together while keeping the convenience and the prestige of a pedestal desk. It was an adaptation of the earlier and sometimes larger library desk, found in the libraries of the mansions of the gentry and the nobility.

Most partners desks made in the 19th century were built of high quality woods such as oak, mahogany or walnut and finished with tooled leather inserts on top and brass fittings all around. Many reproductions have been made in the 20th century.

See also

Media related to Partners desks at Wikimedia Commons

• List of desk forms and types
• Resolute Desk, a specific partners desk used by many US presidents

References

• Gloag, John; Clive Edwards (1991). A Complete Dictionary of Furniture (rev. ed.). Woodstock, N.Y.: Overlook Press. ISBN 0-87951-414-0.