Adirondack chair

The Adirondack chair is an outdoor lounge chair with wide armrests, a tall slatted back, and a seat that is higher in the front than the back.^[1] Its name references the Adirondack Mountains in Upstate New York.

Adirondack chair

Classic chair with a flat back and angled, contoured seat
Designer	Thomas Lee and Harry C. Bunnell
Materials	Wood (original) wood, plastic, metal (contemporary)

The chair was invented by Thomas Lee between 1900 and 1903 in Westport, New York, but was patented by his friend Harry C. Bunnell, who added some minor adaptations to make it more suitable for convalescents.^[2] The chairs were popularized in nearby tuberculosis sanatoriums, where they were favored for the way the armrests helped open up the sitter's chest. The Lee-Bunnell chair, however, had a single plank for the chair back; it was not until 1938 that the fan-shaped back with slats was patented by Irving Wolpin.^[3][4]

Adirondack chairs are now often made by injection molding and can take any form. Since the 1980s, they are generally marketed in Canada as "Muskoka chairs",^[5][6] although the design did not originate in Muskoka.^[7][8] If you go only slightly North of Muskoka, however, they are more commonly referred to as 'Bear Chairs', from the Bear Chair Company^[9] based in South River, Ontario, who began creating wooden DIY versions in 1987.

At least one oversized chair has been built as tourist attraction for a gift shop.^[10]

Gallery

• 
  A modern curved back example in Tofino, British Columbia, Canada
• 
  Red chair with foot rest for increased leisure
• 
  Durable cedar and orange plastic chairs in 20 cm of snow, Boise, Idaho
• 
  At a picnic site
• 
  Ornate 15 feet (4.6 m) chair as tourist attraction, maintained with a 1 imperial gallon (4.5 L) of both primer and paint annually. North of Cloyne, Ontario, Canada

See also

• List of chairs

References

1. "Adirondack chair". Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
2. Harry C. Bunnell (1 April 1904). "Chair. (US Patent 794,777)".
3. Judge Silber, Debra (4 August 2021). "The Feel-Good Recliner That Cures What Ails You". Smithsonian. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
4. Irving Wolpin (12 April 1938). "Design for a lawn-chair or similar (US Patent 109,239)".
5. "Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles". DCHP-3. 21 March 2017. Retrieved 25 August 2024.
6. Rubin, Josh (29 June 2019). "Whose Chair is it Anyway?". Toronto Star. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
7. Hunter, Douglas (21 February 2018). "Chair Wars". Douglas Hunter. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
8. Rubin, Josh (29 June 2019). "Whose Chair is it Anyway?". Toronto Star. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
9. thebearchair.com
10. "Cloyne Big Chair". issuu.