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Object Timeline

1930	Work on this object began.
1952	We acquired this object.
1991	We exhibited this object.
2012	We photographed this object.
2013	This was an Object of the Day.
2015	We photographed this object.
2017	We exhibited this object.
2024	You found it!

Drawing, Design for a Skyscraper

This is a Drawing. It was designed by Ely Jacques Kahn and from the office of Buchman and Kahn. It is dated 1930 and we acquired it in 1952. Its medium is graphite with fixative on tracing paper mounted on cardboard . It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

Beaux-Arts-trained architect Ely Jacques Kahn, known for his embrace of New York’s commercial development drew this skyscraper proposal in the midst of the city’s building boom. Known for mixing historicism and Art Deco modernism, Kahn here references the stepped facades of ancient ziggurats as well as the setback style that became characteristic of early twentieth-century urban architecture. Kahn emphasized the building's sixty-five-story height through vertical lines, and in the drawing, by its central placement looming over the city. The domed peak—unusual for the architect, who generally preferred strict rectilinearity—suggests the building had soared to its vertical limit. The design was possibly for an official French building to be built by Irwin S. Chanin of the Chanin Construction Company on the entire block between 62nd and 63rd Streets west of Central Park West. The stock market crash and succeeding recession ground the project to a halt. Although this building was never realized, more than fifty of his designs from the 1920s to 1960s were constructed and remain in use today.

This object was featured in our Object of the Week series in a post titled Celebrating the Commercial Building.

This object was donated by Ely Jacques Kahn. It is credited Gift of Ely Jacques Kahn..

Drawing, Study for Maximum Mass Permitted by the 1916 New York Zoning Law, Stage 4

Drawing, Study for Maximum Mass Permitted by the 1916 New York Zoning Law,...
black crayon, stumped, pen and black ink, brush and black wash, varnish on....
Gift of Mrs. Hugh Ferriss.
1969-137-4

This drawing depicts a multiple-story building using thin lines from the base of the building looking upward. Angled diagonally to the top lefft corner, the building shoots out of of the ground surrounded by triangles with sketched lines, resembling mini mountains. The core of the building is long and slim, the first story landing starting far up from the ground. Directly underneath the first story balcony is a blue, geodesic space with six visible glass walls, that encloses the middle of the building. It is the only color on the page, depicted using a sky-blue. From there, the drawing shows the underside of what looks to be balconies highlighting the multi-storied nature of the building. With the exterior walls of the building further inward, each story or 'deck' extends outward in a tiered, pagoda-like manner. At the top of the building is a construction crane, its hook extending all the way from the top to the glass enclosure.

Print, Design for the Ten-Deck House
mimeograph print, brush and blue watercolor on white paper.
Museum purchase from Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program....
1991-53-1

Drawing, Sketches of New York Skyscrapers

Drawing, Sketches of New York Skyscrapers
graphite, red crayon on tracing paper.
Gift of Henry O. Milliken.
1937-51-4

Our curators have highlighted 7 objects that are related to this one. Here are three of them, selected at random:

A shining silver-colored cocktail service, with gleaming, reflective surfaces. Centered on the square tray is a tall, cylindrical cocktail shaker, with a smaller cylindrical cap and vertical ridges on the body. Circling the shaker are six stemmed cups with short, cylindrical bowls, about the same size as the shaker cap; long slender stems; and flat round bases. The interiors of the cups are brushed, matte metal. The square tray is like a picture frame, with an inset area and ridged, beveled edges stepping down to the level of the table.

Manhattan Cocktail Service
chrome-plated brass.
Gift of George R. Kravis II.
2018-22-61-a/i

Brochure, New York American: The Way to Reach the Moderns

Brochure, New York American: The Way to Reach the Moderns
printed paper.
Smithsonian Libraries, Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Library, F128.5 .N499....
43.2016.16

This object has not been digitized yet.

Textile, Manhattan, 1930
linen.
Lent by Yale University Art Gallery, John P. Axelrod Collection, B.A. 1968,....
65.2016.7

Its dimensions are

62.5 × 40 cm (24 5/8 × 15 3/4 in.)

It is signed

Inscribed in graphite, lower margin center: BUCHMAN AND KAHN, ARCH'T'S

It is inscribed

Inscribed in graphite, lower margin center: BUCHMAN AND KAHN, ARCH'T'S

Cite this object as

Drawing, Design for a Skyscraper; Designed by Ely Jacques Kahn (American, 1884–1972); Office of Buchman and Kahn (United States); USA; graphite with fixative on tracing paper mounted on cardboard ; 62.5 × 40 cm (24 5/8 × 15 3/4 in.) ; Gift of Ely Jacques Kahn.; 1952-15-13

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibitions The Jazz Age: American Style in the 1920s and The Cooper-Hewitt Collections: A Design Resource.

Short URL http://cprhw.tt/o/2CfU2/
Accession Number 1952-15-13
Object ID 18390641