History Of The Adirondack Chair

Editor: oldadk

The Adirondack Chair has become an American icon, becoming the symbol for comfort and simplicity emerged from its roots of Yankee ingenuity.

THE ADIRONDACK CHAIR: EVOLUTION OF AN ICON

Any vision of American outdoor style includes classic Adirondack furniture -- perhaps the most recognized symbol of leisure and relaxation in America today. The Adirondack chair is truly an American classic, rumored to go back as far as the late 1800s, when it was first introduced at resorts and spas.

The Beginnings

1903

Most credit for creating the Adirondack chair is given to Thomas Lee of Westport, New York in Essex County in the Adirondacks. He designed the chair as an alternative to uncomfortable Victorian chairs.

The story goes that in 1903 he nailed several pine boards together, testing the chair by trial and error with family members until it was comfortable enough. The chair had wide 4-inch arms, ideal for setting a drink or book, and a low center of gravity that made them very stable.

The Adirondack chair's roots, like the chair itself, are humble and unassuming. In true Adirondack fashion, the chair was born of necessity, as is true of so many successful objects. The necessity in this case was comfort.

During the Victorian era, there was a new furniture and architectural style emerging – American Rustic, which featured rough-cut boards, twigwork, and birchbark. The side, rough boards of the first Adirondack chair keeps with the American Rustic movement, using unrefined natural materials. This was fueled by the post-Civil War “back to the wilderness” escape from the hustle and bustle of city life.

The name “Adirondack Chair” was credited to be coined by tuberculosis patients who spent time sitting in the chairs in the Adirondacks as part of their "fresh air" cure. Originally a chair for the porch, vacationers fell in love with this chair and brought it home for lawn and beach use.

EARLY DESIGN AND DESIGNERS

Thomas Lee Thomas Lee receives the most credit for the innovation of the Adirondack chair. Lee, a summer resident in Westport, wanted an alternative to the upright and uncomfortable Victorian chairs. After testing his contraption with family members, he settled on an optimally pleasing seat angle to make it comfortable enough. His design included wide 4-inch arms that were ideal for setting a drink or book.

The resulting chair, called the “Westport Plank Chair,” had a sloping seat and back with wide armrests. It was rustic, but it did the job. The original design featured straight wooden back slats. The “key” to the comfort is the various angles that Lee created -- the angle of the back to the seat and the legs. Seemingly innocuous, these angles are the key to Lee’s innovation.

Later, Mr. Lee modified the design to feature a curved back, once again improving the comfort. Wide armrests were perfect for supporting beverages and the low center of gravity made them very stable.

There were many benefits of the Adirondack chair. In addition to the comfort improvements, the slanted back design of the chair was ideal for the hills of the Adirondack Mountains, because it could face downhill on a steep incline and still sit upright.

Gerrit Rietveld

Fifteen years later in 1918, the architect Gerrit Thomas Rietveld “scientifically” designed a chair using formulas and calculations to arrive at his chair to keep one both alert yet comfortable. His work was part of the “deStijl” arts movement which focused on the essential of form and design. His "Red and Blue" chair is now in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Harry Bunnell

A friend of Lee’s, Harry Bunnell copied and patented the design in 1905 without Lee’s knowledge. In his patent application, Bunnell wrote:

“The object of this invention is a chair of the bungalow type adapted for use on porches, lawns and at camps and also adapted to be converted into an invalid's chair.” After describing the eleven pieces that made up the chair, he wrote that “the advantages of this construction wilt be obvious."

For the next 20 years until about 1930, Bunnell made the original and variations of the Adirondack Chair out of hemlock. Each of these new “plank” chairs was stamped with Bunnell’s name and the patent date. The Adirondack Chair that cost around $4.00 would sell today for over $1200.00. Bunnell sold mostly to rustic camps in the Adirondacks, including sales for use by tuberculosis patients who came north from the cities of the “wilderness cure” at sanatoriums like the Trudeau Institute in Saranac Lake.

OTHER DESIGNS

The Adirondack has seen many changes and adaptations over the past 100 years. One builder, Louis Vincent of Upper Jay, adapted a chair to include a rolled seat and a fanned back, calling it the “High Peaks” chair. He is quoted as saying, “A poor craftsman is one who imitates, a good one will steal.” This surely sums up the evolution of the Adirondack chair from Thomas Lee and Harry Bunnell.

The Westport chair enjoyed several decades of popularity until, once again, comfort became an issue. The Adirondack health spas, known for their open-air treatment of TB patients, took the Adirondack chair to the next generation by replacing the large plank back with multiple slats. This design, which carries into today, was easier to produce than the unblemished wide boards required by the Westport Chair.

It is generally acknowledged that there were two types of early Adirondack chairs. One, considered to be the “classic” chair, had a straight back with narrow arms. The second, a variation on the original, had a concave back and wide arms for comfort. Later on, some builders had trouble finding wide boards without knots, so the chair used thinner slats on both the seat and the back. There were other changes that evolved over time, too, including arched backs, changed angles, rockers, storage shelves, footrest, folding capability and rolled seat.

The next major innovation for the Adirondack Chair came years later in the early 1980s at Adirondack Great Camp “Flat Rock” on Lake Champlain. Caretaker Jackie Pedro adapted a rustic chair to make it more comfortable. This chair, true to the “peeled pole and branch” designs of the American Rustic movement, this chair was the beginnings of Willsboro Wood Products. The company operated in the Willsboro Grange Hall and offered rustic furniture made of mostly rounded wood stock.

A year later, Willsboro Wood Products created a new Adirondack chair, once again as a result of wanting more comfort. He hooked up with Sally Packard at the Adirondack Store in Lake Placid and together they identified new furniture to design and improvements that could be made over existing furniture.

PATENTS

Harry Bunnell, a friend of Lee’s, copied and patented the design in 1905. “The object of this invention is a chair of the bungalow type adapted for use on porches, lawns and at camps and also adapted to be converted into an invalid’s chair…”

The classic Adirondack chair has been adapted many times, and here, the adaptation goes beyond mere comfort to become more useful so they could be easily stored during cold weather and other times when they're not in use.

In 1987, Willsboro Wood Products owner William (Bill) Hickey patented a special locking mechanism to enable the chair to fold. These early chairs were made of maple and used 2” hardwood pegs instead of screws and were the first and only folding Adirondack chairs available. Willsboro Wood Products had a handful of “firsts,” which also included being the original – and only – offerings in the Plow & Hearth catalog when it was introduced.

The sturdy comfort and rustic elegance of these ”slat back” Adirondack chairs have been preserved by artisans in Willsboro at Old Adirondack, Inc. a manufacturer of natural cedar furniture. Additional modifications continue. One newer version has a gently curving back that cradles the user, with a rolled front to make this chair a comfort and stylistic leap forward. Old Adirondack uses Northern White Cedar (Thuja occidentalis) for its natural cedar furniture.

TYPES OF WOODS FOR ADIRONDACK CHAIRS

Over the years, variations of Lee's original design were manufactured in many different types of woods and finish types. Lee’s original was made from pine. The early versions, made from hemlock, pine and maple, were typically painted (Bunnell’s originals were made of hemlock and basswood; some were painted green and dark brown) or stained because they did not have many inherent features for weathering or resistance to pests and mildew. Cedar and teak are the woods of choice these days, because they are much more resistant to rot and weather to a mellow gray.

The early woods became hard to find in good quality wide boards. This may seem hard to believe, but at the turn of the 20th century, the lumber industry in the Adirondacks was basically unregulated. With major fires in 1903 and 1908 and extensive logging, the amount of Adirondack virgin lumber was only 4% of its original forest by 1920. Resourceful craftsmen began to use other types of wood.

Cedar is light, long-lasting and non-toxic, and the history of wood furniture making dates back hundreds of years. An 1869 book, Adventurers in the Wilderness,” praised the Adirondack forest, asserting that the cedar-scented mountain environment would restore health. The North American indigenous peoples used cedar as a mainstay of their culture. They used cedar for shelters and longhouses and canoes. They wove the stringy bark into blankets and clothing, and used the cedar boughs for bedding. Because of its importance to them, the Aboriginal people called these cedars "trees of life."

THE ADIRONDACK CHAIR IS NOW A SYMBOL OF BEAUTY AND COMFORT

Over the years, the chair has been called many things – Southwest Adirondack, High Peaks, Muskoka or Westport – since there are as many variations as there are makers.

No other chair has the history to become an American icon like the Adirondack Chair. This furniture style has lasted and will continue to last because of its simple beauty and amazing comfort.

Look at these links for more info:

The only Adirondack manufacturer of Adirondack Chairs using North Country White Cedar:
www.oldadirondack.com

Categories: Decorating | Furniture | Visual Arts