Side Chair (MR 10)

Designer: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, German, 1886–1969
Maker: Berliner Metallgewerbe Joseph Müller, Berlin, Germany
Date: 1927
Material: Nickel-plated steel and cane
made in: Vienna, Wien state, Austria, Europe
associated with: United States, North and Central America
Classification: Furniture
Collection: Decorative Arts and Design
Current Location: Not on view
Dimensions: 31 x 18 1/2 x 28 1/4 in. (78.7 x 47 x 71.8 cm)
Credit Line: Richard Brumbaugh Trust in memory of Richard Irving Brumbaugh and in honor of Grace Lischer Brumbaugh
Rights: Public Domain
Object Number: 174:1992

NOTES

Only steel has the strength to support the weight of a person on two slender curving tubes. Inspired by tubular steel’s physical properties, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe replaced standard chair legs with a counterbalanced design called a cantilever to make the chair seem to float. In 1927, he debuted the MR 10 at the Weissenhof Estate, a neighborhood of model homes designed by leading modernist architects using prefabricated components. The chair was so popular that it is still produced today.

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