Folding Lounge Chair

ca.1952

This folding lounge chair was made as the deck chair for the SS United States ocean liner, launched in 1952. The ship, which soon achieved the record for the fastest Atlantic crossing, cost a staggering seventy-eight million dollars and was noteworthy for its extensive use of aluminum and its modern décor. The Troy Sunshade Company was an American firm that pioneered the manufacture of tubular steel furniture in the 1930s and then aluminum furniture in the postwar period. Hundreds of these chairs were made for the liner and remained with the ship until 1984, when the fittings and furniture were auctioned. The ship is now docked in Philadelphia awaiting refurbishment.