The ideal source of information when reproducing an historical furniture design is an original piece of furniture that we can measure and observe. In the case of the Board Room chairs from the City National Bank, we don’t know what has become of the originals or if they even exist. However many of Wright’s original drawings are on file in the archives of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation in Scottsdale Arizona, including a single sheet entitled Office Furniture for the City National Bank.  Included on that master sheet are 2 elevation views and a plan view of the directors chairs. In addition to original plans, historic photos are also very useful, as sometimes the plans didn’t address all aspects of the design and changes to the plans could have been made during construction. Wright On The Park and the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation both have copies of a photograh taken in the Board Room, presumably shortly after completion.

Sarting with Wright’s original drawing and a photograph of the original chairs, we recreate the design using CAD (computer aided design). We create a ‘virtual’  chair that matches the the original drawing and photograph. The CAD program generates elevations and plan view that we can compare side by side with Wright’s drawings of 101 years ago.

We can also view the chair in the form of a 3 diemnsional rendering, complete with shadows and textures that can be compared to the historical photo.

The process of creating the virtual chair using CAD software, involves the creation of each indivdual part. We then go back through the entire list of parts and engineer the joinery and details and output part drawings to the factory floor for fabrication.

Individual parts are cut in the ‘rough mill’ area of the factory. These parts are typically over-sized and will be trimmed, machined and shaped to something smaller. The parts in this picture are going to be part of the sub-assembly that will make up the single large ‘U’ shaped piece that is the 2 arms of the chair and wraps around the back.

These glued sub-assemblies will become the seat frames.

fully machined seat sub-assemblies.

Using primarily CNC machining centers, glued up assemblies are precision machined to their final shape.

Main chair body assembly

The main chair body is assembled. In the foreground of this picture, Barrel Chairs designed for the 1936 home of Herbert Johnson, Wingspread, are also being built.

Laser engraved signature and serial number.

The signature of Frank Lloyd Wright, a discrete serial number and the date of manufacture are laser engraved on each piece of furniture.

Sub assemblies in finishing

The main chair body and the seat & back assembly are finished separately.  The first stain coat is a non-grain-raising alcohol based stain with an orange color.

Second coat of stain is applied and hand wiped.

The second coat of stain is a dark brown. Applied over the 1st coat orange, the result is a finish with depth of color. It is hand rubbed to give it greater grain definition. After the second coat of stain the components go through the finishing line where they sprayed with a coat of sealer, cured in an infra-red oven and hand sanded to remove roughness from the sealer coat. They are then spray with a catalyzed varnish and cured in a

Stained chair components headed into the sealer booth.

2nd infra-red oven.

serial number MC0001 at final assembly

The finished assemblies are taken back to the original work station where they are assembled in to a complete chair.