'The Chair'

Apr 15, 2024

A large chair designed to capitalize on the achievements of furniture design and those that make it. This large cement chair is based on a design by Duncan Phyfe, a 19th-century cabinetmaker who brought Neoclassical designs from Europe to America. The 30-foot cement chair was built in 1950 by James Harvey as a tribute to the furniture industry in Thomasville, North Carolina.

Commonly known as the “Big Chair” (not to be confused with Washington, D.C.’s landmark of the same name), it is the second chair that has stood in this location. The original, a wooden structure built in the early 1920s, stood just over 13 feet tall. Over time it was worn down by exposure to the elements, and was torn down in the 1930s.