Object Timeline

-0001

1957

  • Work on this object began.

1977

  • We acquired this object.

1991

2015

2025

  • You found it!

Drawing, Design for Convair 880 Airplane Lavatory

This is a Drawing. It was drafted by Glen Boyle and from the office of Dorothy Draper & Co., Inc. and made for (as the client) General Dynamics Corporation. It is dated 1957 and we acquired it in 1977. Its medium is airbrushed gouache, brush and gold paint, graphite on illustration board. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

General Dynamics hired the firm of Dorothy Draper & Co., Inc. to design interiors for their new Convair 880 airplane - the first jet airplane to challenge the supremacy of Boeing's 707 model in the airline industry. An advocate for roomy, commodious spaces and an early proponent of plastic laminates, Draper designed a colorful, convenient plastic-laminate veneered bathroom interior that functioned efficiently and comfortably for consumer use. This drawing served as a model for the mock-up plane interior assembled in San Diego prior to fabrication of the production airplane. Convair 880s were purchased by TWA who used them with Dorothy Draper & Co. interiors. Only sixty-five 880s were produced over the lifetime of the production run from 1959 to 1962, and General Dynamics eventually withdrew from the airliner market.

This object was donated by Richard Hunnings and Carleton Varney. It is credited Gift of Carleton Varney and Richard Hunnings.

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Its dimensions are

H x W: 48.9 × 37.8 cm (19 1/4 × 14 7/8 in.)

Cite this object as

Drawing, Design for Convair 880 Airplane Lavatory; Drafted by Glen Boyle (American); Office of Dorothy Draper & Co., Inc. (United States); Client: General Dynamics Corporation (United States); USA; airbrushed gouache, brush and gold paint, graphite on illustration board; H x W: 48.9 × 37.8 cm (19 1/4 × 14 7/8 in.); Gift of Carleton Varney and Richard Hunnings; 1977-106-2

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibitions Pixar: The Design of Story and The Cooper-Hewitt Collections: A Design Resource.

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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/18491729/ |title=Drawing, Design for Convair 880 Airplane Lavatory |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=8 February 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>