The Big Chair, Marketing landmark in Anacostia, Washington DC, United States
The Big Chair is an aluminum structure in Anacostia, Washington DC that stands 6 meters (19.5 feet) tall and replicates a Duncan Phyfe style seat. It is located at the intersection of Martin Luther King Avenue and V Street as a striking oversized reproduction of a classic furniture piece.
The original wooden version was installed in 1959 by Curtis Brothers Furniture as a promotional advertisement before mass media became widespread. It survives as a relic of the roadside advertising era that existed before modern marketing techniques.
The chair symbolizes how businesses once promoted their products through eye-catching oversized objects placed along roadsides. Visitors today use it as a recognized meeting point and reference location in the neighborhood.
The chair is located at an accessible street corner with surrounding shops and is easy to reach on foot. Early morning or early afternoon provides the best lighting for photographing the structure in good daylight.
In 1960, a woman named Rebecca Kirby actually lived on top of this structure, spending more than a month in a specially built cubicle. This unusual promotional stunt demonstrates the creative and extreme marketing methods of that era.
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