NORTH DENNIS – A straight-line storm known as a microburst hit Cape May County two to three years ago and ripped the roof off a house on Route 47, also knocking down the chimney.
The 1940 two-story, wood-frame house, located at 1382 Route 47 south, was left with an attic full of items showing, including a chair balanced precariously at the south edge of the structure, where the chimney fell, taking most of the siding with it.
The chair, and to some extent a red suitcase, became social media darlings and the topic of the “Chair Watch” group on Facebook, which has nearly 12,000 followers. The chair, which had been featured on T-shirts with the words “I’m Still Standing,” is no longer in fact standing, as of Monday, Dec. 11. The property owner, Mike Litchko, confirmed the chair had fallen.
The chair had been the subject of Philadelphia television news reports, and “The Rooftop Chair” even has a place on Google Maps. The Herald recently reported that Litchko had taken out a demolition permit on the damaged house, Nov. 2, after the township issued him a complaint, dated Sept. 21, declaring his property unfit for human habitation.
Litchko told the Herald that he bought the house after the previous owner died, and that the items visible in the attic never belonged to him – they were simply left there. He said he plans to demolish the house himself and might have already started except that his excavator needed to be repaired and he was waiting for a part.
Litchko is also looking for assurance that he could “build back,” meaning rebuild on the site.
The question of whether he could rebuild on the same footprint and to the same height was put to Jessica Ferrier in the Dennis Township Construction Office.
“Yes, he can,” Ferrier said in an email to the Herald.
Litchko has one year to use the demolition permit; however, the actual demolition will likely prove anticlimactic now that the center of attention, the hanging chair, came down. Ironically, the chair that was revealed to the public by one type of storm met its end as the result of another – notably the same storm system that spawned two dozen tornadoes in the south.
Matt Brudy, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Mount Holly, confirmed that the storm effects in Cape May County were part of the same system that had deadly consequences in other states.
“It was part of the same system but with different outcomes,” Brudy said.
Generally, the Cape May County area had 1.5 to 3 inches of rain (Woodbine, nearest the chair house, had 2 inches of rain) and 40 to 45 mph wind gusts, with gusts near 50 mph along the shore. Brudy said the highest reported wind gust was 48 mph out of Cape May.
Litchko said there was hard rain and strong winds after midnight.
While it lasted, people had fun with the chair on Facebook. People would stop by nearly daily and post a photo to indicate the chair was still there.
Some used Photoshop to place different people, such as Santa Claus or the Grinch, in the chair. Someone posted the infamous image of former governor and current presidential candidate Chris Christie sitting in a beach chair. Around Thanksgiving there was a turkey pasted into the photograph as if sitting in the chair.
Some people stopped and took photos posing in front of the house, and they were often scolded for doing so. Others complained that the township hadn’t cited the owner and ordered the house’s demolition, which has happened. Posts with photos or the occasional video assured members that the chair still stood.
There was endless speculation that the chair was somehow fastened to the structure, and when someone took a photo from an angle that didn’t show the chair it had people in a tizzy. Any forecast of wind provoked concerned comments about its threat to the chair.
One person posted a link to an article titled “How to Hang Antique Chairs as Shelves,” from skicountryantiques.com. People would also post photos of other lonely chairs, including some sitting at the curb waiting to be picked up by the trash collector.
And what is inside that red suitcase, people ask.
Some thought the idea of following the daily status of a chair perched at the collapsing roofline of a decrepit structure was a complete waste of time. So why did the “Chair Watch” Facebook group have such a faithful following? Member Susan Bevilacqua summed it up rather well.
“I think it is hysterical that something so simple that I thought was my personal weird quirk was shared by so many others. If it falls tomorrow, it has still been a load of fun,” she posted.
“Tomorrow” came Dec. 11 and Facebook followers mostly accepted the end of the chair era with the same good nature they showed monitoring the chair’s constant stand on the brink of a fall.
“(The chair) put up a good fight. Day in, day out hung on for dear life. Chair was so inspirational. RIP,” one person wrote.
“I think that it’s bittersweet, yet appropriate that the chair went down before the building could be demolished. God speed chair,” wrote another.
“Every good story has an end. It’s been real and a lot of fun!!,” said another.
One person simply said, “It’s been fun,” which summed up the reason for the interest in a seemingly broken chair on top of a broken house.
Litchko said he doesn’t follow the group, but that people have sent him items including a hat and a T-shirt. He understands that people were having fun with the matter.
“It’s all good humor. A lot of people are respectful. Some people have their own opinions … as with anyone,” he said.
A recent post asked if anyone could see a young girl’s face in a second-floor window above the front door. Coincidentally, Litchko told the Herald that a few of the houses there on Route 47 are haunted. He said he believes the chair was protected by the late owner, “Tessie.”
He said he had spoken to Ferrier in the Dennis Township Construction Office and told her he hoped the chair would come down on its own rather than him having to bring it down.
“Thank God it did,” he said.
Asked about saving the chair and raffling it off, with the proceeds going to the Dennis Township Museum and History Center, as some readers have suggested, Litchko said, “I would be in favor of that.”
He expressed hope that the chair would be used to benefit the township or the historical society in some way.
“I’m not looking for anything out of this – just a happy ending. The good Lord made it happen,” he said. “To say the least, it was a ride.”
The chair, however, did not fair as well as hoped. Litchko provided a photo of the chair in a broken heap on the ground. An offer was made in the Facebook group to restore the chair for free by someone who said they own a local woodshop; however, it is not known at this time if their offer was accepted.
While the chair’s future remains up in the air, it seems some are already trying to move beyond it. As one “Chair Watch” member asked, “Do we now switch to (watching) the suitcase?”
Contact the author, Christopher South, at csouth@cmcherald.com or 609-886-8600, ext. 128.