6. Courthouse Chair

This oak office chair was once used in the 1891 Montgomery County Courthouse, now known as the “Red Brick Courthouse,” in Rockville. That Romanesque Revival building was slated for demolition in 1968, a decision successfully opposed by many organizations, including the Montgomery County Historical Society.

Made c.1890-1910, this chair has an arched, bowed back with a wide splat, suggestive of Empire-style gondola chairs of the 1830s. It was removed from the Red Brick Courthouse when the Welfare Department (Department of Health and Human Services since 1995) moved to new quarters in 1953. Reverend Alexander E. Livesay, the department’s director of community development (1967-1977), found the chair in pieces in 1967 and had it re-assembled. Perhaps believing it was an original Courthouse chair, he donated it in 1977, writing “it should not be lost to the citizens of Montgomery County.”

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