See more objects with the tag skyscraper, stepped, apartment-living, Paul Frankl.

Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

0

  • Work on this object ended.

1928

  • Work on this object began.

2017

2025

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Skyscraper Bookcase Desk

This is a Skyscraper Bookcase Desk. It was designed by Paul T. Frankl.

This object is not part of the Cooper Hewitt's permanent collection. It was able to spend time at the museum on loan from Grand Rapids Art Museum as part of The Jazz Age: American Style in the 1920s.

It is dated ca. 1928. Its medium is california redwood and black laquer.

Austrian émigré Paul Frankl designed one of the most successful lines of furniture referencing the skyscraper, a uniquely American form of building. His “Skyscraper” line, introduced about 1926, consisted of stacked cubes representing the layered platforms and stepped-back profiles of buildings as seen from the street.

It is credited Lent by Grand Rapids Art Museum, Gift of Dr. and Mrs. John Halick, 1984.7.2.

  • M-1, Type B2 Clock
  • chromium-plated and enameled metal, molded bakelite, brushed-burnished silver.
  • Gift of George R. Kravis II.
  • 2015-41-1
  • Chair
  • aluminum, brass, leather.
  • Private Collection.
  • 79.2016.1

Its dimensions are

L x W x D: 219.7 × 163.8 × 85.1 cm (86 1/2 in. × 64 1/2 in. × 33 1/2 in.)

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition The Jazz Age: American Style in the 1920s.

There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian’s Terms of Use page.

If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-4.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/907214161/ |title=Skyscraper Bookcase Desk |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=10 February 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>