When one thinks of fine furniture, the names of Chippendale, Hepplewhite and Sheraton spring to mind, but prewar New Farm had its own fine cabinet maker in Ed Rosenstengel, whose factory was at 524 Brunswick Street.
Edmund Rosenstengel, born of German immigrant parents in Toowoomba in 1887, travelled the world to hone his skill in cabinet making before settling in New Farm in 1922. He used native Queensland timbers, especially silky oak to make plainly designed furniture. He later extended his interest in cabinet timbers to silver ash and Queensland maple. He worked on commissions and made not only furniture but small articles also. He made a jewellery box of maple which was presented to the Duchess of York and a suite of bedroom furniture in Louis XV style for the bedroom of the Government House where the Duke of Gloucester slept in 1934. This suite, made entirely of Queensland timbers, comprised a bed, a dining table and chairs of Queensland maple, and a standard lamp of silver ash, decorated with Australian flora and fauna.
WWII led to a reduction in his skilled staff from 25 to ten, and he was restricted in the scope of his furniture, to making standard repetitive products with no individuality allowed. He still, however, in his own time, accepted commissions for small pieces.
After the war, although he continued accepting special commissions, he also produced standard furniture for the commercial market to cater for the needs of the returning servicemen for household furniture.
Ed announced his retirement in 1956 but continued to produce pieces until 1958. He closed his business rather than have his name attached to inferior products. Ed died in 1962.
Further information is also available at the office of the Historical Society, next to the New Farm Library, open Thursdays from 2.00pm to 4 pm or by appointment.