A wooden chair with ornate carvings and a hard, wooden seat used for display in main corridors during the 18th and 19th centuries. Used by hall porters and occasional unknown visitors, these chairs were rarely comfortable but often had elaborately carved backrests.
Hall chairs can be hard to come by in the United States, but it is not uncommon to come upon large sets of them in England. Although they're not comfortable for sitting, you can use them to hold framed art in a foyer, place them under windows or next to a fireplace, and stack your favorite art books on them.
