Hoboken / New Jersey / United States
When President George W. Bush, Yoko Ono, and Diane von Furstenberg need a leg, they turn to Putnam, the rolling ladder company. For 100 years, the company that Samuel Putnam founded in lower Manhattan has offered trestle ladders, step stools, pulpit ladders, industrial steel ladders and, most important, the famous "Classic No. 1" - the rolling library ladder. "The design hasnt changed since 1905, " observes Putnams friendly, sandy-haired president, Gregg Monsees.But customers have. Putnam have always made rolling ladders for residential use, but for half a century those orders mostly came from a few high-brow architectural firms like McKim, Mead and White, who designed wood-paneled home libraries. From the 1920s through the 1970s, Putnams biggest customers were the phone company, dry-goods stores, and clothiers like Brooks Brothers.In the late 1970s, industry orders slowed to a trickle. "But we got lucky, " notes Monsees, recalling that the building and renovation boom started about the same time. Unlike AT&T, homeowners wanted to climb to the top in style. Before 1980, Putnam made all their ladders from red oak. Today, they also offer ladders in cherry, ash, hickory, beech, walnut, birch, maple, teak, and mahogony.
