How Jeffersonian can a seat actually be?

March 7, 2013 12:18 PM

What kind of sitting bench lets people sit kind of facing each other, but also side by side?

I've been (finally) watching through "The West Wing", and I'm on the fourth season now. A couple of times I've noticed President Bartlett at the Resolute Desk while someone (Toby, the Speaker of the House) sits in a chair off to the right of the desk and facing the other way. This lets them have a conversation while sitting facing each other, but not directly face-to-face.

I was talking about this with a friend this morning, and he said that was a "Jeffersonian Seat", that Thomas Jefferson created a chair/bench designed for that kind of seating arrangement. I can't find anything about this.

Is there a name for this kind of sitting arrangement? Are there benches/sofas explicitly designed like this? Where did it come from?

posted by cardioid to Grab Bag (16 answers total)

You may be interested in the conversation bench, of which there are near infinite varieties.
posted by DarlingBri at 12:21 PM on March 7, 2013 [3 favorites]

I have seen these called tete-a-tete chairs. Something like this?
posted by payoto at 12:22 PM on March 7, 2013

This idea was also examined by SNL back in the late 80s early 90s, though only for use in a certain room....
posted by chiefthe at 12:32 PM on March 7, 2013 [5 favorites]

Not very Jeffersonian in styling, but one of my classmates in woodworking school built this rocking chair version.
posted by jon1270 at 12:42 PM on March 7, 2013 [2 favorites]

I was interviewed by a radio reporter who had us sit like the conversation bench to which DarlingBri linked, only with two chairs placed in opposite directions. It's easy to do without a special piece of furniture.

The reason for setting up the chairs that way for the interview was that it put our heads and right arms very close to one another, so he could put the microphone in between us and we could both talk into it.
posted by brianogilvie at 3:29 PM on March 7, 2013

They were also known as Love Seats in Victorian times.
posted by unliteral at 3:41 PM on March 7, 2013 [1 favorite]

This is what used to be called a "love seat" I think? Basically it's like a couch, but with an S-shaped back. Each person sits in the concave part of each lobe, and behold, they are sitting side-by-side and also facing each other.
posted by tel3path at 4:26 PM on March 7, 2013

Jefferson seems to be linked to some early versions of the swivel chair, one of which had a folding desk tray attached similar to modern classroom desk-chair designs. I can't find anything about your friend's claim either, though.

unilateral, love seat is a broader term comprising any small sofa where people would be physically more intimate when seated. The specific type where they face in opposite directions was a tete-a-tete, vis-a-vis, or courting bench (also "sociable seat/chair". I'm not sure how much they really reflect Victorian mores given that they are deemed (at least to English speakers) to have originated in the French royal courts. I also can't find much 19th-century usage of the term "love seat", so I think this attribution is anachronistic.
posted by dhartung at 4:32 PM on March 7, 2013 [1 favorite]

True dhartung. Encyclopædia Britannica has an entry:

"From the beginning of the 19th century onward, however, chairs of this size were being produced under the name love seat, or courting chair. To emphasize the presumptions of duality, the two sections were sometimes divided (by an S-shape plan, for example) in a manner more symbolic than effective."

My personal experience growing up in England in the 50's and 60's was that the term 'love seat' was commonly used to describe this sort of chair.
posted by unliteral at 5:37 PM on March 7, 2013

On further research, it seems they were also called Siamoise, named after Chang and Eng Bunker. Looks like you can pick one up for about $125.
posted by unliteral at 6:04 PM on March 7, 2013

I love the design of these two sided chaises from Room and Board. We ended up with a regular chaise without the armrests that we use in the same way because it's more versatile.
posted by hindmost at 6:08 PM on March 7, 2013

If Bartlett is sitting at the desk, it cannot be one of these conversation/love/siamese/courting chairs.

Can you link to a screen shot maybe?
posted by SLC Mom at 6:26 PM on March 7, 2013

A chit-chat bench!
posted by mon-ma-tron at 7:57 PM on March 7, 2013

Response by poster: With the Speaker (near the end of "Shutdown", S5E8)

With Toby (about 20 minutes into "Abu el Banat", S5E9)

Obviously this is a different sort of situation, given the two different chairs and the size of the desk. It's not at all the "normal" desk setup, but then again the Oval Office is far from a "normal" office.

This was more about the general sort of seating arrangement, and all of these answers were great. I grew up thinking of "love seat" as a two-person couch or a cushioned armchair suitable for around one and a half people (or two who are very fond of each other).
posted by cardioid at 2:05 AM on March 13, 2013

Those chairs are just loose chairs, they are not attached to the desk, as can be seen here, here and here.
posted by unliteral at 3:37 PM on March 13, 2013

Response by poster: Right. I was likely not entirely clear, but I was curious about that sort of sitting arrangement, which led into the idea of specific seating made to enforce it.
posted by cardioid at 6:08 PM on March 16, 2013