Office chairs

[jtcarrey]

ok, so it's not a cool car or a vaccum or even an old radio, they're office chairs, and I was informed by a good friend that they're possibly from the 20's to 30's!!! Now these chairs have been in my mom's house for YEARS, probably about 15 years now, she acquired them from her old boss, and I was watching Follow The Fleet (or Roberta, can't remember) and saw one of them in a shot and I was like WHOA!! I HAVE THAT CHAIR!!!! so HA! Here they are:

that's the one I saw in the movie, here's the label underneath the chair, although the pic came out blurry, sorry! lol

it says:
Webster Mfg. Co.
Station B, SUPERIOR, WIS.
MADE IN U.S.A.
2058=5
Wal.

if that means anything haha

and the other chair my mom has:

Tell me what ya think hahaha oh and sorry for all the mess, I haven't unpacked yet cuz I don't plan on stayin' here long hahaha

 

[David Conwill]

Those are very nice! They look like they'd go well with my desk and chair, except they're in much nicer condition. I like the art-deco waterfall look to the back.

There are some gorgeous aluminum-and-wood chairs kind of like that, that were made here in Muskegon at the Shaw-Walker Company in the 1930s that I would love to own, but they bring big bucks with collectors.

-Dave

 

[Big Man]

I have several chairs in my office that appear to be the same basic style as yours. We have many, many chairs of this style where I work (State psychiatric hospital).

They are marked on the bottom: "Boling Chair Company, Siler City, NC". That company began operations as the "High Point Bending and Chair Company" and operated from 1904 until 1956, when it was reorganized as the Bolding Chair Company. The company is now out of business.

 

[Big Man]

How about this for an old office chair ...

This is the desk and chair in my office. Of course I sit in the "new" chair on the other side of the desk, as I'd probably break the old chair if I sat in it. [huh]

Look closely at the chair and desk in my office, then take a look at the old picture.

That's the same desk and chair! The old picture was taken sometime between 1883 and 1908, as Dr. Murphy (man standing in the background) died in 1908. While I don't have the same office as where the picture was taken, I am in the same building.

 

[CherryRed]

Very cool BigMan! Don't you wish your office looked like that?

 

[Big Man]

Very cool BigMan! Don't you wish your office looked like that?

I sure do. I've got the desk, the chairs, the book case, and even the same view out the window (I'm two floors up from that same office). Now, if I could only talk maintenance into stripping the plaster off to uncover the fireplace that was covered up in the 1939-40 renovation, I'd be set.

 

[AmateisGal]

I sure do. I've got the desk, the chairs, the book case, and even the same view out the window (I'm two floors up from that same office). Now, if I could only talk maintenance into stripping the plaster off to uncover the fireplace that was covered up in the 1939-40 renovation, I'd be set.

Wow! I would much rather work in an office like that instead of these darn old cubicles I'm in now. Of course, the building we're in is quite old, but our floor has been "modernized."

 

[jtcarrey]

wow BigMan, that's super cool, I would love to work in an old building with an old desk and chair!

Glad you all liked the chairs haha

 

[scotrace]

I have that chair as well. They were made for decades, I think. The classic office chair design in every government office from Maine to Alaska.

Classic and timeless, an excellent design (though they sure sit better with a pillow!)

Big Man - fantastic picture! I was hoping the "then" pic of your desk would get shown off some time!

 

[Big Man]

... Big Man - fantastic picture! I was hoping the "then" pic of your desk would get shown off some time!

I have a number of old pictures from our hospital that date from the late 19th and early 20th century. Most of them are of nurses and doctors (group photos), but there are several of the old fire equipment here. Trouble is, I never knew just where to post them. They aren't "family" photos (except for one or two, as both my grandparents worked here from around 1902 until 1904).

I'm kind of the "unofficial" hospital historian - I wonder why? [huh]

 

[jtcarrey]

I have that chair as well. They were made for decades, I think. The classic office chair design in every government office from Maine to Alaska.

Classic and timeless, an excellent design (though they sure sit better with a pillow!)

hehe swell

 

[Lucky Strike]

A few variants:

 

[freebird]

ok, so it's not a cool car or a vaccum or even an old radio, they're office chairs, and I was informed by a good friend that they're possibly from the 20's to 30's!!! Now these chairs have been in my mom's house for YEARS, probably about 15 years now, she acquired them from her old boss, and I was watching Follow The Fleet (or Roberta, can't remember) and saw one of them in a shot and I was like WHOA!! I HAVE THAT CHAIR!!!! so HA! Here they are:

that's the one I saw in the movie, here's the label underneath the chair, although the pic came out blurry, sorry! lol

it says:
Webster Mfg. Co.
Station B, SUPERIOR, WIS.
MADE IN U.S.A.
2058=5
Wal.

if that means anything haha

and the other chair my mom has:

Tell me what ya think hahaha oh and sorry for all the mess, I haven't unpacked yet cuz I don't plan on stayin' here long hahaha

We had several of these chairs that came out of the old McDonnell Douglas plant in Tulsa. Unfortunately, they burned when our barn caught fire in 2002 or 2003. I also had a 1920's typewriter that I was planning on restoring that went up in the same blaze.

 

[David Conwill]

Just because I was enjoying this thread, I thought I'd post up a picture of the Shaw-Walker chair I was talking about earlier:

Shaw-Walker Model 8309. No, I don't know why it's in a stair well.

And of my battered old teacher's chair that I found in a Grand Rapids antique shop and took home for $30.

It matches my desk quite well, dontcha think?

-Dave

 

[dhermann1]

Big Man, if you were suspended from a height of five feet over each of those chairs and dropped, I'll bet you odds on the old one would be impervious, while the new one would fall apart. (We won't go into what would probably happen to your tush. We're talking hypothetical here.)
Those old office chairs were built to last for millennia. They're incredibly solid. Most of them are oak, I believe, and glued and mortised and rabbited and whatever else Norm Abrams does to connect pieces of wood together so they stay connected.
Chairs like that are total treasures. They're solid, they're comfortable, they're just beautiful. An old friend of mine who worked for the City of New York used to hoard them from other offices that had cast them off for the new stuff. Great, great objects.

 

[59Lark]

Krug office furniture

I have several of those kind of solid oak office chairs , dated from the 1920s, krug is still in business in kitchner, if fact when the pentagon needed new office furniture after the attack, they bought the furniture from krug in kitchener ont Canada, solid wood furniture a company founded by square heads , they also built caskets but dont anymore. You just cant beat solid oak fixtures of any kind. 59Lark.believe it or not.

 

[Big Man]

Big Man, if you were suspended from a height of five feet over each of those chairs and dropped, I'll bet you odds on the old one would be impervious, while the new one would fall apart. ...

When I retire maybe I can get a part-time job as a "furniture tester".