had i known i would be creating a post featuring the benches from my travels i would have been far more attentive in collecting material throughout the years. nonetheless i have gone through enough of my archive to find this selection. in many cases it is not so much the benches themselves but how they contribute to their surroundings.
it's natural to start with a few from my second home, India
a stone slab bench in the Mauli temple in the village of Nanos in southern Maharashtra. though not designed for the purpose, this section of the temple is used for storing the temple's drums so the bench doesn't get much use
but this bench at the Ratnagiri station on the Konkan Railway is greatly appreciated by the railway's passengers
in an attempt to accommodate visitors the Shiroda panchayat thought it would be a good idea to place some benches on the beach for those averse to sitting on the soft natural sand. if they had spent more time on this lovely beach they would have realized it would have been better to leave the beach in it's natural state.
enough said
Concord is the capital city of New Hampshire where the lovely Civic District houses most of the governmental buildings. potential bench warmers are greeted by the statue of John Gilbert Winant at the street level outside the entrance of the state library. After serving as the governor of New Hampshire he was appointed as the ambassador to the United Kingdom during World War 2. He wrote the book Letter from Grosvenor Square, an account of his time as a wartime ambassador.
the solid stoic benches at the entrance of the New Hampshire Historical Society fit right in with Beaux-Arts classical style of the monumental building. New Hampshire is called the Granite State so it is only appropriate that the building and the benches are constructed from local granite.
travelling south to Boston we found some very nice benches indeed. here is one outside the historic Flour and Grain Exchange at 177 Milk St. one of the main challenges of designing a bench so close to a landmark building is to make sure the bench does not to detract from building. though probably not from the Beal restoration in 1978, this bench fills the space with a subtle elegance. it's curves seem inherently connected to the entrance steps and arch while the absence of any vertical back avoids blocking the view of the entrance
Curley Memorial Plaza near Faneuil Hall has several benches and two statues of the former mayor, James Michael Curley. one of the statues is standing while the other is leisurely seated on one of the benches. it's not often you get the chance to share a bench with the mayor but if you'd prefer to be alone that's okay too
Christopher Columbus Waterfront Park receives a lot of visitors who want to sit and enjoy the view and the moment. in lieu of placing lots of individual benches, both sides of the wide walkway are designed as long continuous stone benching providing plenty of seating in a way that just seems to fit right in the scene.
the swinging benches on the Rose Kennedy Greenway are a popular feature in town. Boston's Big Dig was a huge project where a major elevated highway through the center of the city was replaced by tunnels. the pedestrian park, Rose Kennedy Greenway was constructed on much of the surface land that was freed up. we waited a while to see if one of the swing benches would be available but sorry to say we had to move on.
Still in Boston, at the Museum of Fine Arts the benches provided for viewing the art mounted on the walls are themselves works of art in the Please Be Seated program
the collection of fine handcrafted benches is an integral part of the museum's permanent collection
A church is likely to have plenty of benches, or pews. the Roman Catholic Church of the Visitants in Warsaw, Poland has some very fine ones indeed. luckily for both residents and visitors the churches are for the most part open to the public and well worth a visit
out of the streets of Warsaw fencing may be constructed of old bicycles but luckily many benches are still made of wood
at Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport wood is used to represent trees while the 'park' benches are fanciful curved structures surrounding the 'trees'. i'm not sure what material these benches are made from.
at the Dome Next Door art installation in Dome Square in Riga Old Town creativity carries the day. this bench cum hammock is only one of the installation's fantastical seating arrangements accompanied by mirrors that are guaranteed to alter your perspective.
i have taken all of these photos myself but i needed some help for additional information about some of the places. for that i used Google images which relies on AI to locate and describe where i took the photos. with that info as a base i have personally formulated and written all the above text
