What is a Secretary Desk?
A secretary desk is a type of furniture more often found in homes than offices, despite the name. The basic design of the compact, but tall, secretary desk consists of a set of drawers topped by a fold-out desk, with a set of shelves or a hutch perched on top. The essential design is quite old; intact antique examples from at least the 1500s suggest that the desk was widely used at that time, and possibly before. Modern offices tend to use a differently styled desk design with more room to spread out and slightly less private storage, but many people keep a secretary desk at home to use as a small workplace or as a family organizing area. The base of a secretary desk is a sturdy set of large, flat drawers. On top of the drawers, a hutch with shelving, usually enclosed, is installed, with an area underneath the hutch for small nooks and other storage areas located in the back of the desk. A folding section encloses the open area underneath the hutch when not in use, and flops out to cre
