How to Choose the Right Style of Stanchion Post

Article published on Sep 22, 2021

With a tradition of free admission, Washington DC's Smithsonian museums are a special experience for students and tourists alike, attracting 22 million such visitors in 2019. This may seem like a shockingly high number, but this is spread across the 20 museums included in the "Smithsonian" list. The Louvre on the other hand, with its single location, brought in almost half that on its own with 9.6 million visitors in 2019, making it the most visited museum in the world.

With so many visitors coming in and out every single day, one has to wonder how these museums manage to control crowds without interrupting the museum aesthetic. After all, art museums can spend anywhere from $75-$200 per square foot on an exhibit site, (not including the cost of the artifacts themselves). This includes such things as lighting elements, structural elements, museum stanchions, and more.

Furthermore, Mark Walhimer of museumplanner.org further articulated how much the interior design itself costs, stating:

"Most design firms charge 20%-25% of the exhibition budget for design fees, i.e. “a 10,000 square foot science center is $300 per square foot times 10,000 sq. ft. for an exhibition budget of $3,000,000, 20% of the budget would be design fees ($600,000)”."

With so much expense and attention devoted to creating the right aesthetic for an exhibit, it's important for museum stanchions to cooperate with the interior design as well.

How to Choose the Right Style of Stanchion Post

Stanchion posts with velvet ropes are common crowd control tools for elegant environments like museums, theaters, and art galleries because they are available in a wide variety of post finishes and with a variety of velvet rope colors which can be customized to perfectly match meticulous interior design plans.

When shopping for the right museum stanchion, site furnishing experts should pay attention to the following features and variations.

Post Finish and Color: Classic stanchion posts like those used in museums and art galleries are often available in the same basic finish types and colors as the doorknobs, railings, and other hardware elements. Color variations might include black, silver, and brass while finish types might include polished styles or more satin styles.

For instance, classic stanchion posts are available with the following finish styles and colors:

Post Top Finial Design: Classic stanchion posts often include a finial design at the top of the post. The examples above were all flat-topped posts, but other post type styles are more decorative.

For instance, classic stanchion posts are available with the following post top styles:

Post Base Design: While the standard stanchion base is typically a simple sloped base, there are other base styles available which may be more decorative, or more practical. Dome bases for instance may look more elegant, but flat bases are ideal for preventing trip-and fall incidents.

Here are the base types commonly available with classic stanchion posts:

Rope Color: While red and black may be the most common colors for velvet ropes, they can be purchased in just about any color. Still, these velvet stanchion ropes most commonly use elegant colors like gray, navy blue, maroon, etc. (It's important to note, the clip end can often be customized to match the same finish used for the stanchion post itself.)
Rope Type: Velvet ropes are the most common type used with classic post and rope stanchions, however, there are other rope types becoming more and more popular for different venues.

For instance, here are some of the rope types which are most popular:

Like most crowd control products, classic stanchion posts are fairly easy to customize beyond just the features outlined above. If there is a custom style of stanchion post or rope you'd like to purchase for your venue which you don't see here, reach out to our sales team here for just the right stanchion style: sales@crowdcontrolwarehouse.com