Pennsylvania House (furniture)
Pennsylvania House, was a subsidiary of Universal Furniture, until it went out of business in 2007. Pennsylvania House was a subsidiary of La-Z-Boy Incorporated, until it was sold in 2007. The company was established in the late 1800s as the Lewisburg Chair Company in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania and renamed "Pennsylvania House" in 1933.
The company offers a selection of fine wood residential furniture and custom-made upholstery. In its wood furniture offerings, Pennsylvania House specializes in solid cherry designs and offers collections in oak and pine, while also utilizing other hardwoods, select veneers, and wood products.
In 2004, Pennsylvania House furniture moved its production from Lewisburg to a plant in China. The Chinese factory continued to make the furniture under the Pennsylvania House label for shipment back to the United States. According to Tom Riegel, a laid-off molding machine operator who worked at the Lewisburg factory for 27 years, "It started with just a few pieces of furniture made in China. Then it snowballed," he said. "Manufacturing was built on the back of the American worker and then boom â one day your job is gone."