The venerable Chesterfield is an enduring staple of the modern living room.

But where did it come from?

Supposedly, this fashionable piece of furniture was first commissioned by Lord Philip Stanhope, the 4th Earl of Chesterfield. This guy was a jack of all trades. He was not just a politician and a writer, but he took serious attention to setting all the latest trends. Naturally, his ambition included a comfy place to sit down with his friends after a long day.

Stanhope wanted the holy grail of furniture: plush, elegant, and easy on the clothes. What he got was a masterpiece of style and function: soft leather upholstery, distinctive buttons, brass nails, and balanced proportions. Stanhope loved it so much that he cared for its whereabouts even after his death. When he languishing on his deathbed, he foisted the luxurious lounge upon his young godson, Mr. Dayrolles.

Mr Dayrolles was understandably miffed at first—his godfather didn’t leave him anything else—but the old thing eventually grew on him.

The Chesterfield’s refined grace only improved with age, and it was quite the eye-catcher to boot. Friends and acquaintances must’ve agreed with him, because it didn’t take long before the design took off. Soon, it spread like wildfire through the British Empire, making a name for itself as a paragon of English fashion.

The Chesterfield became synonymous with stately refinement, the destination of choice for a casual drink or smoke with the guys. In time, the Chesterfield attained mass market appeal, but the quiet dignity and ageless poise lives on. People of all backgrounds appreciate the Chesterfield for what it is: the dapper gentleman of the furniture world who never goes out of style.

Sometimes you’ve just got to relax and have a bit of fun. Stay tuned for more from the Couch of Ages blog series and please, feel free to email us if there’s something you’d like to see covered in this space. Have a great day and try to find a bit of time to relax.  

For more about CouchDB visit couchdb.org or follow us on Twitter at @couchdb. 

Image credit: www.chesterfields.co.uk 

CouchDB version 2.0 was released back in August 2016, and more recently CouchDB version 2.1 was released in August of this year. If you still haven’t found the time to upgrade to either, you’re in luck.

In just 45 minutes, Tom Wilson walks you through a full introduction to CouchDB 2.0 in this video from his workshop at SyntaxCon 2017. That’s right, in less than an hours you can get a full run down on all that CouchDB 2.0 has to offer.

To learn more about CouchDB 2.0, check out the series we did late last year, covering everything from Fauxton to Mango Query, plus features like Compaction and Replication too!

Then, when you’re ready to ask questions, join us in the Apache CouchDB Slack channel. We’ll see you there!

For more about CouchDB visit couchdb.apache.org or follow us on Twitter at @couchdb.