About World’s Largest Office Chair
Outside an office-furniture store in downtown Anniston sits a chair large enough to make nearby cars look like toys. The World’s Largest Office Chair rises approximately 33 feet above Noble Street, transforming one of the most ordinary pieces of workplace furniture into a massive steel roadside landmark.
The chair was the idea of Leonard “Sonny” Miller, owner of Miller’s Office Supply. In 1981, Miller wanted an unforgettable way to draw attention to his business. He selected a standard office chair made by the HON Company and converted its measurements from inches to feet. The result was a giant but recognizable version of the chair sold inside the neighboring showroom.
Building it required far more than oversized upholstery. The chair contains about ten tons of steel and is anchored by approximately fifteen tons of concrete. It was engineered to withstand winds of roughly 85 miles per hour. A spiral staircase originally allowed access to the enormous 15-foot-square seat, although the staircase was later removed.
In 1982, Guinness World Records recognized the Anniston creation as the world’s largest chair. Taller chairs were eventually constructed elsewhere, but Miller’s landmark retained its unofficial distinction as the world’s largest office chair. Its specific shape,and its continued connection to an operating furniture business,kept the original joke intact even after the broader record disappeared.
The business moved away during the 1990s, leaving the chair to weather and rust, but later returned to the Noble Street property and restored the structure. It has survived decades of Alabama weather, including a 2012 storm that damaged the store’s roof but left the giant chair standing.
Visitors can view and photograph the chair from the property outside Miller’s Office Furniture. It is a classic example of roadside advertising becoming a community landmark: impractical, enormous, and far more durable than anyone probably expected when a furniture dealer decided to scale inches into feet.