Born in Langenstein, Hesse, Germany, Pabst immigrated to the U.S. in 1849 and settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he would make his professional career.

The excellence of his craftsmanship elevated him above his peers, as did the strongly architectonic (building-like) quality of his furniture designs—often massively scaled, with columns, pilasters, rounded and Gothic arches, bold carving and polychromatic decoration.

[11] The newly formed architectural firm of Furness & Hewitt won the design competition for the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (1871–76).

A director of the academy, liquor baron Henry C. Gibson, hired Furness & Hewitt to redecorate his Greek Revival city house.

[17][18] Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. (father of the future president) hired Furness to decorate his newly built townhouse at 6 West 57th Street, New York City (demolished).

The ornate Neo-Grec paneling, bookcases, cabinetry and mantels are based on designs in Furness's sketchbook,[19] and their manufacture is attributed to Pabst.

[20] The massive dining table (image left) – with a base featuring carved herons pinching frogs in their bills – is now in the collection of the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia.

The cameo-carved master bedroom suite is now at Sagamore Hill National Historic Site, President Theodore Roosevelt's summer home in Oyster Bay, New York.

[21] The Neo-Grec case for the Roosevelts' upright piano (with cameo-carved panels) and their library table (with oversized Corinthian capitals) are unlocated.

[10] A 17-year-old architecture student visiting Philadelphia in June 1873, Louis Sullivan, closely examined a house nearing completion at 510 South Broad Street, and decided that he was going to work for the firm that designed it.

[24] The tall and massive walnut chimneypiece featured compressed columns supporting oversized piers incised with stylized sunflowers, twin "hounds of hell" grotesques snarling from behind shields, a diapered and gold-leafed tympanum bisected by a center column, a crocketed pediment rising to a finial, and twin owls staring down from the roof.

[27] It features cameo-carved doors in maple and walnut, painted glass panels backed with foil, a shingled-roof top, and ornate brass hardware.

The wood was filled and highly polished on shellac, as is the common practice of our cabinet-makers with their best work … The hinges and metallic mountings were of oxidized silver of the finest workmanship and spirited in design.

A noticeable feature was the central mirror surmounted by a crocketed gable, richly carved, with finial composed of two birds resembling pelicans.

The amount of rich carving far surpassed that on any other Gothic piece in the Exhibition...[30]Pabst's "largest existing work" is thought to be the John Bond Trevor mansion, "Glenview" (1876–77), in Yonkers, New York[31]—part of the Hudson River Museum complex.

[32] An 1877 newspaper article credits the mansion's mantels to Pabst;[F] and the interior woodwork, ebonized library, and grand staircase are attributed to him.

Its relief-carved fox-and-crane panels,[36] copied from a plate in Charles Eastlake’s book Hints on Household Taste,[37] are repeated on the sideboard at the Art Institute of Chicago, and on other attributed pieces.

The firm of Collins & Autenrieth designed the Charles T. Parry House (1870–71) at 1921–27 Arch Street, Philadelphia,[39] and its Renaissance Revival interior woodwork is attributed to Pabst.

[49] Pabst is credited with the elaborate, two-story interior of medieval scholar Henry Charles Lea's private library (1881).

[52] Tabor was sworn in as a U.S. senator on January 27, 1883, but was only a temporary placeholder, serving 37 days in office until the Colorado legislature could fill the vacancy.

Following six years on the antiques market – including a stint on eBay[53] – the "Baby Doe" Tabor bedroom suite was acquired by History Colorado, and is now part of the permanent collection of its museum in Denver.

269 South Fifth Street—One of the leading and most successful designers and manufacturers of artistic furniture in Philadelphia is Mr. Daniel Pabst, whose office and manufactory are located at No.

As a wedding gift, he made her an exquisite mahogany sewing box – its inscription, written in a mixture of German and English, concludes: "Remember me Salina Gross 1850.

[65] Pabst was active in Philadelphia's large German-American community, and sponsored other emigrants, "taking them into his household while they were studying and learning their way in the new country.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art hosted a study day on Pabst in October 2008, organized by Jennifer Zwilling, and is preparing a comprehensive exhibition of his work.

Clearly, the quality of his carving and cabinetmaking is of the highest order, and Philadelphia has a tradition of producing superior furniture since the 18th century, overshadowing Boston and New York.Daniel Pabst really did develop a unique and identifiable decorative vocabulary.