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In 1903 Thomas Lee, while staying at his summer cottage in Westport, N.Y., a
small village in the Adirondack Mountains on the
shores of Lake Champlain, developed the Westport
Chair. The Lee designe had a slanted seat and
back.
Thomas Lee offered his chair design to his friend Harry Bunnell. Lee suggested he take his chair design and
build it at his carpentry shop to sell. Unknown to Mr. Lee, Bunnell took the chair design and filed for a patent on April 4, 1904. On July 18, 1905, Bunnell received his patent for the chair he called
“The Westport
Chair”. He manufactured and sold the chair for the next twenty five
years.
The Westport chair
resembles the more common Adirondack
chair. The difference between the two is the Westport chair
is constructed with larger wide boards while the Adirondack chair
is constructed with smaller slats. The locals of Westport have
long considered the Westport chair
as the original Adirondack chair.
We here at Bessboro Builders (located
in Westport) have a long
standing friendship and history with the Lee family and the Westport area. The Westport chair we build is
the “Westport Thomas Lee Chair” and is an exact dimensional
replica of the original chair Thomas Lee constructed. It is constructed of
select 5/4” white pine or other wood of the customer’s choice.
These chairs may be ordered with or with out finish applied. They are fully
assembled but can be left unassembled at the customer’s request.
Please call or e-mail for up to date
pricing or for more details and information.
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