Built To Go Sit

Essay #1

On lounges, clubhouses, porches, and the architecture of slowing down

I sit in the corner of a leather chair, my feet resting on hardwood that’s carried a hundred years of footsteps before mine. The room is dim — calm folk music hums low, cigar smoke drifts upward into the air system, and time begins to loosen its grip.

The walls are covered in leather work, black-and-white motorcycles, photographs of friends and new acquaintances. A couple of guitars hang nearby, not displayed, just waiting — inviting anyone who wants to pick one up and play. There’s laughter, close conversation, unspoken sips shared in silence.

This is a true place to go sit.

For me, this was the beginning of learning how to slow time down — how to enjoy the company of others, and how to understand something we tend to forget: humans are not meant to feel alone.

For thousands of years, men have built spaces for this exact purpose.

To pause.
To reflect.
To belong.

In ancient Greece, the Agora of Athens was not a place to pass through. Benches mattered. Shade mattered. Men gathered there to argue, listen, and observe — to sit with ideas rather than rush past them.

The Roman Forum taught discipline through design. Architecture instructed men where to stand, where to sit, and when to speak. It was a space where time slowed and decorum carried weight.

Medieval guild halls offered craftsmen a place to rest after the work was done — ale poured, tools set aside, the day discussed among peers. Along the roads, coaching inns became the original lounges, where travelers rested by the hearth and shared stories before moving on.

Closer to home, the same instinct lives on.

A municipal golf clubhouse — nothing grand. Just chairs, a view, scorecards, and stories. Or a cigar lounge like the one described earlier, where the lighting is low and the pace is deliberate. Different eras, different materials — the same purpose.

Places built to go sit.

These moments never last forever. Time always moves on. But the bonds formed there can last a lifetime, because they’re made when we are most relaxed — when we are most ourselves.

Bonding through architecture, music, art, experience, sport, and family — there are few places left where time is allowed to slow the way it does when men are given a place simply to sit.

12/28/2025 Bryan Montgomery