Reference Library Update

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"Wisdom"

“Wisdom”

 

December 1: The November, 1930 House Beautiful article “An Apartment in the Twentieth-Century Manner” by Helen Sprackling is now available in the reference library. The article demonstrates how designer Gilbert Rohde decorated a small penthouse apartment in Greenwich Village. Click on the photograph below to read the article.

 

Interior Design by Gilbert Rohde

An Apartment in the Twentieth Century Manner. Interior Design by Gilbert Rohde

 

 

Chris & Anthony (The Freakin’, Tiquen’ Guys)

Happy Birthday Donald Deskey

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Donald Deskey in the second mezzanine's men's lounge at Radio City Music Hall.

Donald Deskey in the second mezzanine’s men’s lounge at Radio City Music Hall.

 

One hundred and twenty-one years ago today (November 23rd) in Blue Earth, Minnesota a man was born, who for over half a century was one of the top industrial and interior designers in the world. Donald Deskey studied architecture at UC Berkeley, but never practiced it. After college he studied art in Paris and attended the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes which was a huge influence on his design asethetic. Returning to New York he started a design consulting firm and was first noticed for the windows he designed for the Franklin Simon Department Store on Fifth Avenue in 1926.

 

Franklin Simon Department Store - Wurts Bros. Photo Museum of the City of New York

Franklin Simon Department Store – Wurts Bros. Photo Museum of the City of New York

 

The following year Deskey formed a partnership with Phillip Vollmer. The firm of Deskey-Vollmer designed very modernistic furniture and textiles. Below are some examples of their collaborative work.

 

 

During this time, the late 1920’s & early 1930’s, Deskey landed some very important interior design commissions. His clients included Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and Adam Gimbel. Deskey was an innovator of using metals such as copper and aluminum for wall covers and ceilings, which he first displayed in 1928 at the American Designers Gallery exhibition in New York.  He then employed similar decoration schemes in the in the Gimbel apartment.

 

Donald Deskey - "Man's (Smoking) Room at the American Designers Gallery, New York, 1928.

Donald Deskey – “Man’s (Smoking) Room at the American Designers Gallery, New York, 1928.

 

 

Adam Gimbel Apartment - Donald Deskey, 1929

Adam Gimbel Apartment – Donald Deskey, 1929

 

 

The Bedroom of Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

The Bedroom of Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

 

 

In 1931 the partnership of Deskey-Vollmer came to an end. That same year Deskey competed and won the largest commission of his career, the interior design for the Radio City Music Hall. This also included designing the private office of Samuel “Roxy” Rothafel, the theatre impresario who was manager of the two Radio City theaters. Of all the private, interior design work Deskey did during this period, Roxy’s office is the only one that survives to this day.

 

 

Deskey made good use of unusual materials in his decorating the Music Hall, such as aluminum foil wall paper  and cork in the men’s second mezzanine and men’s first mezzanine lounges, respectively. Below is a gallery of some of the wonderful moderne rooms that he created.

 

Grand Foyer

Grand Foyer

 

 

The Radio City Music Hall was very nearly demolished in 1978 and was saved from destruction at the eleventh hour. In 1999 the theatre was restored so audiences can still be thrilled by the magnificent sunburst auditorium and its interiors of what is arguably Donald Deskey’s greatest achievement.

 

Radio City Music Hall Auditorium

Radio City Music Hall Auditorium

 

Between 1933 and 1935 Deskey designed for the Widdicomb furniture  Company of Grand Rapids, Michigan. His collaboration with Widdicomb proved to be his most prolific furniture creation of his career and more of these pieces survive to this day and can be purchased at auctions or high-end dealers of Art Deco.

 

 

 

In the 1940’s he started a graphic design firm, Donald Deskey Associates. If you are not familiar with any of his modernistic furniture designs you are certainly aware of his graphic designs, such as the Tide bullseye first used in the late 1940’s or the Crest Toothpaste packaging. This firm also created the aluminum New York City street light, that became the city’s standard in the 1960’s.

 

 

 

My first contact with Donald Deskey’s Art Deco work was when I was a boy. Between the ages of 7 and 14 I was taken to the Radio City Music Hall numerous times and although I was not aware that the furniture that I was sitting on was designed by Donald Deskey, I knew I liked it and thought it special. Before that I was already familiar with the Tide and Crest packaging. As a collector of Art Deco items, I do not have many examples of Deskey’s work, it is usually priced way beyond my means. Probably the most affordable Deskey collectible is the 1939 New York World’s Fair souvenir book. These can usually be found anywhere from $20.00 to $50.00.

 

Donald Deskey New York World's Fair Book

Donald Deskey New York World’s Fair Book

 

My most prized Deskey piece (if it is actually one) is my Widdicomb desk. These desks usually had a metal plate inside one of the draws, my does not. The desk I have might have been refinished or repaired over the years, which would also explain the missing brushed chrome back plates on the handles. If it is not an actual Deskey-Widdicomb desk, it is a great reproduction and it was cheap enough to not pass it up.

 

 

 

As long as Chris and I hit the road looking for Art Deco objects, we will always be looking to find items designed by Donald Deskey and the other great industrial designers of the 1920’s & 1930’s.

 

Anthony & Chris (The Freakin’, Tiquen’ Guys)

The Central Park Casino, Joseph Urban’s long, lost New York City Night Club

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The Central Park Casino, September 10, 1935

The Central Park Casino, September 10, 1935. Image from Official Website of the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation

 

Chris and I love to collect vintage magazines. The cover art can add a wonderful, period, decorative, Deco touch to a room. The advertisements are fun and informative, but it is the articles that are the real golden nuggets. I know it seems like everything is available on the World Wide Web, but that is not the case. Sometimes the articles in these vintage magazine are the only source for specific information and photographs. This is especially true of the article about the Central Park Casino in the August, 1929 issue of The Architectural Record. Chris purchased the magazine on Ebay several years ago and I’m glad he did – there were more pictures of the interior of the Casino in that article than I had ever seen before or since.

 

Architectural Record, August 1929 - Cover

Architectural Record, August 1929 – Cover

It is a shame that a restaurant as special as the Central Park Casino could be destroyed by political vindictiveness. The casino started life in 1864 as the Ladies Refreshment Salon in a building designed by Calvert Vaux. The Casino was located inside the park near 5th Avenue and just south of 72nd Street.  By the 1920’s it was a restaurant that had seen better days.  Mayor James J. (Gentleman Jimmy) Walker (1881-1946), who was elected to office in 1925, wanted to have a place to be entertained and to entertain visitors to the city, decided the Casino was the perfect place. Walker obtained the lease (by not exactly fair methods) and gave it to his friend, the hotelier Sidney Solomon.

 

Mayor James J. (Gentleman Jimmy) Walker

Mayor James J. (Gentleman Jimmy) Walker. Image from the New York Times

 

Joseph Urban - image from Columbia University Rare Book Library

Joseph Urban – image from Columbia University Rare Book Library

Solomon hired famed Austrian-American architect, theatrical and film set and interior designer Joseph Urban (1872-1933) to do the $500,000 dollar renovation. Urban had just designed the Ziegfeld Theatre (1927-1966) on Sixth Avenue, as well as designing the sets for the first two shows in that theatre, Rio Rita and Show Boat. In 1928 Urban was at the peak of his fame.  With a design style for visual impact  and the dramatic  he the transformed the Victorian restaurant into an ultra-moderne night club. The ball room, with its black mirrored ceiling, reflecting the crystal chandeliers and dancers enjoying the best orchestras of the late 1920’s and early 1930’s, received the highest praise for design at the time. Joseph Urban’s design sketch for the mural seen in the below photograph, is the only surviving color record of the any of the Casino. “It presents a flora fantasy set against a soft, gold background.” – Carter Cole, Joseph Urban Architecture, Theatre, Opera, Film (Abbeville Press, Inc., 1992, Pg. 190-193). Consisting of pink and white flowers over dark green foliage, The side walls were decorated with stylized green leaves with pink and silver highlights on a black background.

 

 

The ball room.

The ball room.

 

Another popular room in the Casino was the Pavilion, a light, airy space with no obstructing columns. This was made possible by the use of Lamella construction for the roof, first developed for airplane hangers. Urban made good use of the lattice-work, painting it and the ceiling cream with stylized flora in red and green. Illuminating the room, were Urban’s enameled metal, indirect lighting chandeliers (Urban used similar chandeliers in several other buildings including the Atlantic Beach Club on Long Island).

 

Lamella Construction Detail of the Pavilion.

Lamella Construction Detail of the Pavilion.

A preview for the press was held on the evening of June 3rd. Joseph Urban was the chief figure at the reception. He explained to the New York Times the design he created:

“The moods of each room are established through rhythmic line and sensuous color and the whole composition each room plays up to the next room. (In) the main dining room, broad surfaces of silver, give a living neutral background to a pulsating rhythm of maroon and green. In the ballroom, the line of the mural composition is like the wave of a conductor’s baton beginning dance music, while dim reflections in the black glass ballroom ceiling give space and movement in sympathy to the life of the room. An entrance lobby where reliance on pure proportion serves as a foil to these formal rooms. The pavilion, where the freshness of Spring flowers and joyousness of a wind among young leaves inspired the decoration. An informal small dining room of fumed knotty pine, a ruddy ceiling and materials of vigorous texture and pattern.”

The New York Times, June 4, 1929, Pg. 30

 

Central Park Casino Lobby

Central Park Casino Lobby

On June 4, 1929 the renovated Central Park Casino opened its doors with a brilliant, invitation-only party for 600 guests at $10 ($139.00 in 2015) each. The intention of the new management was to make the Casino “a place for the fashionable and fastidious”. There was a fear that the Casino would be turned into a private club for Walker and his cronies, but that was never the plan. On June 5th the doors were open to the general public, but its menu prices and cover charges made it the most expensive restaurant in New York. The high prices would also be the main reason given for closing it down.

 

Small dinning room detail

Small dinning room detail

 

The Central Park Casino was a favorite after theatre destination for politicians, show business folk and the wealthy. It also drew the ire of Park Commissioner, Robert Moses (1888-1981). Moses hated Jimmy Walker, who he felt had insulted his mentor, New York Governor Al Smith and he hated Walker’s corrupt administration. A progressive administration came in when Fiorello Laguardia was elected mayor in 1934, two years after Walker resigned from office. In that same year Moses and three friends went to the Casino and Moses was unpleasantly surprised when their bill came to $27.00 ($480.00 in 2015), which was higher than the prices at the Plaza Hotel. The whole story of the political battle over the Central Park Casino can be found in Susannah Broyles excellent blog post for the Museum of the City of New York. Click on Robert Moses’ photograph below for the link to that article.

 

Robert Moses - Image from the New York Public Library

Robert Moses Image from the New York Public Library

 

Moses’ public argument for closing the Casino was that there was no place for a restaurant in a public city park that was so out of reach for the majority of the citizens. But the proof of Moses’ vindictiveness toward Jimmy Walker was clear when the lease holder of the Casino, Sidney Solomon offered to revise the menu and cut prices to make it a more middle class restaurant, Moses still revoked the lease. In February of 1936 the Casino closed its doors, then came the final court battle to decide the fate of the structure. On May 1st the Appellate court decided that Moses had the power to tear down the building and  five days later demolition began. In April, 1937, at the cost of $1,000,000 a playground replaced the Central Park Casino, and New York lost not only a historic building, but a one of the best late 1920’s modernistic design interiors.

 

Wurts Bros. Image from the Museum of the City of New York.

Wurts Bros. Image from the Museum of the City of New York. Destruction of the Central Park Casino.

 

 

Wurts Bros. Image from the Museum of the City of New York. Demolition of the Central Park Casino, May, 1936.

Wurts Bros. Image from the Museum of the City of New York. Demolition of the Central Park Casino, May, 1936.

 

For the entire article about the Central Park Casino from the Architectural Record, click on the photograph below.

 

Central Park Casino Exterior

Central Park Casino Exterior

 

It is sad that the Central Park Casino’s life as an ultra-smart night spot lasted less than seven years. And since New York changes so much, so fast, the Central Park Casino has not only vanished physically, but also in the minds almost everybody.

 

Chris & Anthony (The Freakin’, Tiquen Guys)

Time for a Deco-ween Party!

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According to How to Make Party Favors and Table Decoration (published by Dennison Manufacturing Company, 1928):

 

“The ability to take any good idea or design that you may see and adapt it to your own particular needs is an accomplishment that is very easy to learn.”

 

For instance, florist wire can be curled at one end into a spiral to create a base bending the  remaining wire up to use as a support for your decoration of choice. For our spooky Deco-ween Party, glue or tape a disc of yellow or orange construction paper (the “moon”) to the upright support wire.  Small black and white flowers and orange ribbons can be glued around the base.  These will act as further support and stability for the scary silhouette of a bat, cat or witch cut from black construction paper and set in front of the “moon”.  Make several to deco-rate your food table or even serve as place cards for dinner guests.  Maybe one each as a party favor for your guests.

 

 

Vintage example as illustrated with variations.

Vintage example as illustrated with variations.

 

My interpretation of the vintage instructions.

My interpretation of the vintage instructions.

 

 

Returning to The Party Book (May Jane Breen, 1939) a successful Hallowe’en Party may start with a costume parade (once all 40-60 of your guests arrive) with prizes given for most comical, most original, least expensive, most beautiful and the best characterization of a well know character real or fictional.

 

A Word Scramble is next. (Can you feel the anticipation of fun?)   Prior to the party, cut card stock into 5″ squares or use prepared Halloween shaped paper enough so that each guest will get one.  Write one letter on each; the letters, when combined, will spell “Ghosts’ Frolic”.  After the costume parade, the cards are randomly distributed to your guests. The object is for your guests to find other guests who spell out and complete the phrase. The tricky part – they don’t know what the phrase is. (I can already hear the squeals of delight.) The first team to complete the task wins and each member is rewarded with a candy “kiss”.  The teams formed here are teams for the rest of the evening.

 

This will lead to the relay games. (Oh, what fun! I’m really working up a thirst.)  A Spelling Bee, Candle Relay (yes, racing through your house with a real lighted candle), Ghost Slap, etc., are just a few suggested.  Back Fence Meow deserves special (?) mention.  First, draw four parallel lines in chalk on the floor the full length of the room.  On each line, a member of your party walks backward on all fours, meowing and keeping their hands and feet on the “back fence” all the way across the room. (Can you hear the howls of laughter? How I long for simpler times and even simpler friends.)

 

For refreshments, Jack-o’-Lantern Salad is suggested: Poach a pared apple in orange-colored simple sugar until soft.  Remove carefully and deco-rate with raisins for eyes, a clove for the nose and a pimento strip for the mouth.  Set on a bed of lettuce for his collar; place a pineapple ring on the apple topped by a marshmallow for a hat. They don’t mention specific drinks other than punch but I would suggest an assortment of both soft and hard drinks be available.  Here is the complete article:

 

 

Happy Hallowe’en,

Anthony and Chris

The Freakin’ ‘tiquen Guys