During our New England blitz, I once again had the good fortune to visit Mr. and Mrs. Peter Hardwick, the previous owner of the H.O. Studley tool cabinet and workbench. His tale of care and careful stewardship of this treasure is compelling, and it will be recounted in full in the upcoming book “VIRTUOSO: The Tool Cabinet and Workbench of Henry O. Studley” (March 2015).
This visit provided fireworks of excitement (admittedly, my threshold is probably pretty low), as I learned of more Hardwick family history regarding Studley and the family home in Quincy, Mass. Peter’s grandfather knew Studley when the former was a boy/young man and the latter a middle-aged man. Grandfather Hardwick asserted that Studley did much of the trim work and cabinetry in the Hardwick house whose construction began in the 1850s, around the time Studley moved to Quincy.
And I got to see two of the fireplace surrounds attributed to Studley. How cool is that?
When you see the tool cabinet and workbench at next May’s exhibit and think to yourself, “Man, I wonder what kind of work that guy could do around my house?” you don’t need to wonder. He was really good at that, too!
More in the book.
— Don Williams
www.donsbarn.com
www.studleytoolchest.com
Why did the Hardwick’s sell the Studley tool cabinet and workbench?
A treasure like that should be avalible for posterity….