There were lots of that type of thing made for years....The most valuable are the ones made of metal. The value depends on the age, style and condition. Linda C

It's probably maple with a very red stain, from about the turn of the 20th century. Very likely it was one of a set...perhaps part of a parlor set consisting of a settee, ladies chair and gentleman's chair...or maybe just one of a pair. The carving is variously knows as "old North Wind" Or "Old Man of the North" and appears very often on furniture fro0m the last 19th century and early 20th. It has springs in the seat and perhaps that pillow head rest is veneer. It will be easy to re-do....but you will never EVER get all that reds tain out....so might as well not try, just restain a nice mahogany. Nice chair! Linda C

Your house was built before 1870, but after 1820. It could be called 'Italianate' from its paired windows on the second floor. It could also be called "Folk Victorian" . The length of the windows, the window casings with their small hoods are all early Victorian. The window panes (2/2) are probably renovations from the early 1900's. Its eaves, which extend straight out with no returns back to the main house, are Italianate, or 'Romantic' - a reaction to so many years of 'Colonial' architecture in the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. You can see that the builder is still thinking in terms of 'Colonial' symmetry but beginning to use the frills ( bay windows, paired windows, fancier door and window casings) that became so popular in the later Victorian years. The bay windows and the porch make it more likely to have been built closer to the 1850's. Also the newel post in the second slide is made from one log, turned on a lathe - very popular from the late 1830's to the 1860's. However your other stair railing, balusters and the fireplace mantles are the style of the 1830's. I know a similar hand rail (how lovely it is to look at and to feel in the hand!) built by a factory owner in 1838. The iron fence is probably later, early 1870's, as are the spindles (the little turned pieces up next to the roof) on the back porch. See if you can find a copy of Asher Benjamin's pattern book published in 1830 or 1827. He was a very popular architect whose books were copied by local carpenters all over the US. The 1827 and 1830 editions have illustrations very similar to your pictures. Also you might enjoy 'A Field Guide to American Houses' by the McAlesters.

I am not an expert but I don't think it is a valuable antique. Squeeze behind it and look and see if there is any writing or labelling in the back, and take out all the drawers and look at the bottom of them and do the same. If you have someone to help you (don't hurt yourself!) turn it sideways (with a sheet and padding on the floor) and look on the bottom and see if anything is written on the bottom. If this is not a valuable piece, go right ahead and paint it any wonderful color you like. Invite Beth H into the thread, she knows all about this stuff and paints furniture.