Alonzi Furniture Company

03/19/2026

Buona Festa di San Giuseppe! The following story is absolutely amazing to me and why I love maintaining a page dedicated to a business that has been gone for almost 50 years. So get a drink and get comfortable, because its kind of a long story...it took almost 100 years to write itself!

Several years ago, I posted about the annual St. Joseph's Day celebration that we held in the plant every March 19. We had the celebration on the 2nd floor, where the workers set up a traditional 3-tier St Joseph's table in front of a blessed and dedicated altar in honor of St Joseph and the baby Jesus. This altar was hand carved and decorated by Loreto Alonzi himself, probably in the 1930's after moving into the new addition at 1840 W Hubbard St.

For over 40 years, the altar was the focus of every one of our St Joseph's day celebrations. And in between these celebrations, the workers used the altar for personal prayers and intercessions. And they did so right up to the day we closed our doors for good in late 1978. But in all of the hubbub of winding down the business--settling accounts, selling equipment, moving out leftover furniture, and all of the clean up--I never really stopped to wonder what ever happened to our altar. And I waited almost 50 years--until just last year as a matter of fact-- for the rest of the story.

When we made the decision to close the plant back in 1978, my dad had to find buyers for all of our factory equipment. So he notified other furniture manufacturers and invited them to the plant for a look at what we had. One of the manufacturers who came by was Richard Montalbano of nearby Montalbano Furniture Co. Well it turns out that he wasn't interested in any of our equipment...but he was very interested in our altar! And so the altar was moved from one Italian furniture factory to another; and the annual St. Joseph's day tradition continued at Montalbano Furniture.

Over the next 40 years, the Montalbano family restored, preserved and beautifully enhanced this altar. Richard added hundreds of relics, sacred paintings, statues and other artifacts until the collection became so large that it outgrew their factory floor. So about ten years ago, the entire collection was moved to the basement of Visitation Catholic Church in Elmhurst, IL. And what started out as a small moveable altar had now become a full-fledged permanent chapel known as the Crypt of the Saints. That was until just last year, when the church began a construction project and Richard had to find a new home for his life's work. With time running out before construction was to begin, many prayers were answered when St Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church in Moline, IL accepted this precious collection!

So we give many thanks to the Montalbano family on this St. Joseph's Day for their years of faithful stewardship of our altar! And now we can look forward to the next chapter in the life of this altar, and hopefully there will be a continuation of a tradition started almost a century ago.

Below is a picture of the altar as it appeared at Alonzi Furniture Co around 1965, and a more recent picture after the restoration work was performed by the Montalbano family (including a dedication plaque to Loreto Alonzi). And to see Richard's entire collection as it appeared at Visitation Catholic Church, check out this link: https://abc7chicago.com/post/elmhurst-man-search-new-home-priceless-collection-religious-artifacts-housed-visitation-catholic-church/15803774/

02/07/2026

My sister recently discovered some old Alonzi Furniture catalogs from the 50's and 60's, so I am posting a bunch of new pictures which you can find under Photos > Albums (thanks Chris!).

I was a bit amused that the 1957 catalog featured 22 drum tables. Now if you are familar with a drum table, it is a pretty simple design consisting (usually) of a round top, central pedestal, and three legs. So why would Alonzi Furniture have 22 different versions of a drum table in a single catalog? Well here's a possible explanation.

Once the famed American Furniture Mart opened at 666 Lake Shore Drive (now 680 N Lake Shore Drive) in 1926, Chicago became host to the largest trade show for the furniture industry. These trade shows happened twice a year, with the biggest one lasting for 3 weeks in June-July and attracted dealers not only from all over the country, but also all over the world. Manufacturers were always under pressure to present something new at these tradeshows.

For fully mechanized manufacturers, this was not much of a problem. But for manufacturers like Alonzi Furniture who still did much of their work by hand, this was quite a challenge. So yes, the 1957 catalog lists 22 drum tables but the differences between many of them are very subtle: sometimes its just a difference in the carving on the pedestal, the drawer handles, or the ormolu bronze mounts. And after doing these variations for 20+ years, you end up with 22 unique versions of a drum table in the 1957 catalog.

On a side note, when the American Furniture Mart was completed, it was the largest building in the world--a testament to just how large the Chicago furniture industry had become. The owner of the building even intended to install moorings to dock dirigibles. Alonzi Furniture was an original tenant of the building and maintained a presence there until the early 1970's when they moved to the Merchandise Mart. That timeframe also marked the end of Chicago's dominance in the furniture industry. The American Furniture Mart building fell on hard times. It was turned into condominiums, fell into bankruptcy, and--perhaps to change their luck--changed their address from 666 to 680. It then became the new Pl***oy headquarters, and today is general office space.

02/07/2026

02/07/2026