Walter Lamb Benches
Forward-looking architect Walter Lamb is best known for his revolutionary and widely loved patio furniture — he salvaged metal tubing from sunken ships in Pearl Harbor in the 1940s to create alluring chaise longues and other pieces for the backyard. His vintage furniture designs have been adorning patios worldwide for almost a century.
Trained as an architect at the University of California Berkeley campus, Lamb found himself in Hawaii during the 1940s. This period was a time of growth for furniture designers and manufacturers, as veterans were returning to the United States, getting married and starting families. These folks needed practical furniture for their new homes, and as the movement we now call mid-century modern took shape, imaginative architects and furniture makers would fill that need. Lamb was one such innovator.
Lamb worked the shaped tubing and fittings he’d gathered from battleship wreckage into proper frames and wrapped the structures in marine-grade cotton cording to create comfortable, element-proof outdoor furniture. Today his patio furniture has an esteemed place in the history of design. In fact, furniture enthusiasts are eager to restore and collect his iconic aged furniture rather than purchase reproductions.
Postwar California would become reputable as a manufacturing center for versatile furniture intended for both indoor and outdoor spaces. Seating, tables and other items — often made with rattan — produced by the likes of McGuire and Brown Jordan became a defining feature of organic modern living, a style that still characterizes many California interiors and influences innumerable design firms. Pasadena’s then-new Brown Jordan picked up Lamb’s designs, which eventually included dining tables, side tables and coffee and cocktail tables. And along with these furnishings, Lamb's sculptural vintage seating — his curvaceous lounge chairs and armchairs with cotton cord seats — while perfect for your fire pit, shouldn’t be relegated to outdoors-only settings.
Lamb received much acclaim for his work. The Museum of Modern Art in New York recognized his 1940s-era outdoor furniture for Brown Jordan with a design award.
On 1stDibs, find a noteworthy collection of vintage Walter Lamb furniture.
1950s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Walter Lamb Benches
Bronze
21st Century and Contemporary American American Craftsman Walter Lamb Benches
Bronze
Early 20th Century American Rustic Walter Lamb Benches
Bronze
Late 18th Century French Antique Walter Lamb Benches
Stone, Limestone
1950s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Walter Lamb Benches
Bronze
Late 20th Century Spanish Victorian Walter Lamb Benches
Cane, Walnut
Late 20th Century French Walter Lamb Benches
Stone, Limestone
1980s Spanish Vintage Walter Lamb Benches
Iron
1960s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Walter Lamb Benches
Bronze
21st Century and Contemporary Philippine Art Deco Walter Lamb Benches
Brass
1960s German Vintage Walter Lamb Benches
Fiberglass
Late 19th Century Spanish Spanish Colonial Antique Walter Lamb Benches
Cane, Walnut
Late 19th Century French Art Nouveau Antique Walter Lamb Benches
Metal, Iron
1950s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Walter Lamb Benches
Bronze
1940s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Walter Lamb Benches
Bronze
1940s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Walter Lamb Benches
Bronze
