Frank Lloyd Wright’s Midway1 Chair #yesbutisitcomfortable
Finally found this gem in real life at the Samara - The John & Catherine Christian House house a few weeks ago. It’s Frank Lloyd Wright’s Midway 1 chair. What a pretty design right?
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Midway1 Chair (front) at the Samara house #yesbutisitcomfortable. Photo by Andrew Pielage.
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Midway1 Chair (back) at the Samara house #yesbutisitcomfortable. Photo by Andrew Pielage.
Originally designed in 1914 for Chicago’s Midway Gardens, with its striking hexagonal back, this wooden (cherry mostly) chair can be used at a desk or dining table.
Frank Lloyd Wright, The Cassina/ai Masters Program (Published by Atelier International, Ltd., Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Washington DC)
It was apparently never produced at the time but finally came to life in the 1980s, when Cassina reissued it under license from the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.
What’s so captivating is the way this chair embodies Wright’s total-design philosophy.
Atelier International, Front: "602 Midway, 1 / Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright." (Produced by Atelier International, Ltd. New York, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Washington DC.)
He didn’t merely design buildings—he designed the full experience, right down to the furnishings. In fact, across his career, Wright designed nearly 1,100 pieces of furniture, from built-ins and chairs to tables, lighting, and decorative arts—all conceived to harmonize with each new architectural design.
Seeing the Midway 1 at Samara—another of his masterworks—felt like tracing a visual and conceptual thread across different stages of his career. The geometry, materiality, and purpose all tie back to his vision of spaces as unified environments.
Why the Midway 1 Chair at the Samara house?
Among the many pieces Wright designed for Samara, one of Dr. Christian’s favorites was the Midway 1 chair.
Its distinctive backrest features an elegant hexagonal pattern—an echo of the geometric motifs Wright often explored in his furniture. But for Dr. Christian, this design resonated on an even deeper level. The geometry of the chair back reminded him of the benzene ring, the six-membered carbon structure that forms the foundation of organic chemistry. To a chemist, this wasn’t just a visual motif—it symbolized the very building blocks of his field, a perfect blend of art, science, and structure.
In that way, the Midway chair became more than furniture—it was a reflection of how Wright’s designs could bridge disciplines, connecting architecture to chemistry, geometry to human meaning.
For Dr. Christian, the chair wasn’t just something to sit on—it was a daily reminder that beauty, like science, is built on structure, order, and imagination.
#yesbutisitcomfortable?
#yesbutisitcomfortable series:
Midway chair
John and Catherine Christian House (Samara)
At first glance, Wright’s designs can look more sculptural than soft — all sharp lines, angles, and geometry. But sit in the Midway chair for a few minutes, and you start to realize something: it’s surprisingly comfortable.
The chair’s upright form encourages good posture, while the angled back offers just enough give to feel supportive without feeling rigid. It’s the kind of comfort that feels intentional — engineered, not cushioned. I sat in it for about 5 minutes., it was little tight getting in between the “backrests” I guess we will call them, as it is a smaller chair but once your in, you feel locked in. I believe it was designed as a dining chair but at the Samara house it was used as desk chair as well. It works awesome as both.
Soooooo, Im giving this one a 10/10 on looks, its a beauty and an 8/10 on comfort because it was great for 5 minutes but Im just not sure how long it would be comfortable as a dining chair and having to “slip” into it felt a tad ackward.
Q: Have you sat in this one yet?
Q: What would rank it?
(Leave your comments below)