Lithgow Library’s Durable Wood Chair
Libraries need facilities that will serve their community for as long as possible. Lithgow Public Library in Augusta, Maine purchased of 80 Skillman chairs in 2016. Lithgow Public Library is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as an established library from the late 1800s. Local merchant, Llewellyn Lithgow, first bequeathed over $500,000 in today’s dollars to construct a public library. With a later gift from Andrew Carnegie and local fundraising, the building became reality. Today it houses roughly 67,000 books. It also offers numerous services to the residents of Augusta and the surrounding towns.
In 2016, the Friends of Lithgow Library reached out to us to try out some of our chairs. The chairs were part of the library’s $11 million renovation and expansion project. They loved our Skillman durable wood chair, which hits the high points of comfort and durability. The Skillman chair’s aesthetic also offers a beautiful foil for the library’s Romanesque Renaissance elements, which include elaborate interior woodwork and stained glass windows. Its box construction configuration, partnered with our mortise and tenon construction, creates a chair that will be enjoyed for many generations to come. When we last spoke with the library director she let us know both her staff and patrons love their Skillman Chairs. There’s nothing better than sitting with a good book, and Lithgow Library proves it!