Limited, even among the affluent. In that era, before electrification became widespread in urban areas, primarily a phenomenon of the 1920s, home workshops are evidently rare, even among the affluent. However, in 1899, Charles G. Wheeler -- in Woodworking for
Beginners: A Manual for Amateurs New York: G P Putnam's Sons, 1899 -- pictured the image on the left as "an amateur's workshop":
For example, checkout the accounts by, first, an 1908 magazine article by the New York businessman, A L Hall (Document 2), about finally settling upon the second floor of his suburban New York home, and/or (2) the 1910 article below by the Industrial Arts figure, Ira S Griffith (Document 42), describing a basement shop, complete with electric lighting and power tools.
In 1904, in Document 6, to an observer like Frank T Carlton, a professor at Toledo University School, the potential impact of the Arts and Crafts Movement on American society was quite evident and today, in 2006, a century later, we can only marvel at how remarkable his insights are, but in an uncanny
way.
Document 2: A L
Hall Workshop at Home 1908
A L Hall To have a workshop in one's own home, well supplied with tools, where simple pieces of furniture can be made on the lines of one's own choosing, is
to have a source of unlimited pleasure always at hand. I have such a shop, where I spend many hours, and find in it no little satisfaction... Click here for more of Hall's account of his workshop and his Morris Chair project
Document 42: Ira S Griffith's article,
"Recreation With Tools" 1910
The
amateur's workshop pictured on the left -- including electric motor to power a saw and lathe -- would be rare, I think. Urban electrification did not begin until mid-decade, around 1915, so the electric motor would have been direct current. (When you read A L Hall -- above -- you'll note the pride he took in a foot-powered saw, and cutting oak at that.)
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