Goddard and Townsend

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18th century home of the Goddard family on Second Street in the Easton's Point neighborhood of Newport, Rhode Island

Goddard-Townsend set of drawers with shells

John Townsend label from an 18th century clock

Goddard and Townsend (or Townsend-Goddard) is an interrelated group of craftsmen with their name lent to a style of New England furniture made in Newport, Rhode Island in the 18th century.

The furniture is named after Townsend and Goddard families, who were cabinentmakers in Easton's Point in Newport. The families were related through marriage. John Townsend (1733-1809) and John Goddard (1724-1785) were among the most famous of the artisans and many of their works were signed. The furniture often featured a uniquely American blend of alternating convex and concave blocks and shells.

Twenty-one members of successive generations of these two intermarried families worked as cabinetmakers over a period of 120 years, selling their products not only in New England but also in the coastal trade and in the West Indies. ^[1]

A single mahogany secretary bookcase made by Christopher Townsend (John's father) in 1740 sold at auction in New York for $8.25 million. John Goddard made a famous six-shell desk-bookcase for Providence merchant Nicholas Brown. It was sold by the Brown family in 1989, for-- $12.1 million -- a record for a piece of American furniture at auction. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Boston Museum of Fine Art, Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art and Preservation Society of Newport County own works of Goddard-Townsend.