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You Better Sit Down. The Big Chair's Gone.
John Kidwell, who has been maintaining the mahogany chair for about 30 years, said his attempt to rebuild it will be "a serious test of my abilities."
(By Jahi Chikwendiu -- The Washington Post)
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Since the 1970s, Kidwell has kept an eye on the chair, even as he liked to remind George Curtis, the chief executive of what is now Curtis Investment Group, that it was taking up two parking spaces. "And he would say, 'Oh no, we can't do that,' " Kidwell said. "The chair belongs to Anacostia."
A couple of months ago, Kidwell inspected it and was stunned by the rot eating away the legs and back. He called George Curtis and told him the chair had to come down before it collapsed. "It was a liability issue," he said.
At 5 a.m. Tuesday, Kidwell and his crew showed up with a backhoe to help pull the chair apart. It took six hours. By the end, a crowd from the surrounding offices and businesses had assembled, taking pictures and wondering whether it was the end of the big chair.
The next day, they were still talking about it.
"It's been there so long, it's strange to look over there and not see it," said Rosa Tatez, 43, a van driver who regularly transports passengers to and from the parking lot where the chair stood.
A few yards away, Maggie Briscoe, 59, who until two years ago lived at Barry Farm, said it had been a fixture for as long as she could remember. The Santa Claus, the lady in the glass house -- it has all been a part of her life.
"They have to put that chair back," she said. "It's our chair."
Staff researcher Bobbye Pratt contributed to this report.
