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

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Object Timeline

-0001	We photographed this object. We photographed this object.
1922	Work on this object began.
1969	We acquired this object.
1991	We exhibited this object.
1995	We photographed this object.
2013	This was an Object of the Day.
2014	We exhibited this object.
2017	We exhibited this object.
2024	You found it!

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

This is a Drawing. It was created by Hugh Ferriss. It is dated 1922 and we acquired it in 1969. Its medium is black crayon, stumped, pen and black ink, brush and black wash, varnish on illustration board. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

The skyscraper, symbol of New York City and emblem of American culture, is envisioned in this charismatic architectural rendering by Hugh Ferriss, one of a series of four drawings that show how the city's landmark 1916 "set-back" law would produce the stepped architectural silhouette now familiar from iconic structures such as the Waldorf Astoria and the Empire State Building. The limitations imposed on maximum mass were designed to allow light into city streets, and to allay public fears that the new monoliths would turn city streets into canyons of darkness.

This object was featured in our Object of the Week series in a post titled Mod Metropolis.

This object was donated by Mrs. Hugh Ferriss. It is credited Gift of Mrs. Hugh Ferriss.

Drawing, Study for Maximum Mass Permitted by the 1916 New York Zoning Law, Stage 1

Drawing, Study for Maximum Mass Permitted by the 1916 New York Zoning Law,...
black crayon, stumped; brush and black ink over photostat, varnish on....
Gift of Mrs. Hugh Ferriss.
1969-137-1

Drawing, Design for a Skyscraper
graphite with fixative on tracing paper mounted on cardboard .
Gift of Ely Jacques Kahn..
1952-15-13

Hanging, New York Waterfront
silk.
Gift of Lydia Bush-Brown.
1974-23-6

Our curators have highlighted 8 objects that are related to this one. Here are three of them, selected at random:

The front view of a pale yellow ziggurat and rectangular compression molded plastic radio of 1935, known as the Skyscraper radio. This art deco radio reflects an Egyptian stepped up architectural motif that leads to a narrowed and flattened roof where the speaker of the radio is housed with six slats and covered with a textured and woven fabric for improved sound effect. The front of the radio features a central panel of molded plaskon with a cascade of seven vertical striations alluding to a waterfall design. Four horizontal striations of molded plaskon emanate on either side of the central panel, close to the base, and on each of its sides sit a tuning knob of metal and white. The cascading central panel holds two important and decorative features of the radio. Toward the top is a glass enclosed rectangular metal framed insert with a depiction of two world globes complete with stars and squiggly lines as cloud formations in a dark outline. The name “Air King”, the Brooklyn based manufacturer of the radio is printed above. At the center and below the insert, there is a ziggurat metal plaque with four nail heads and four striations. Within this plaque is the radio dial, comprised of three concentric circles in glossy black with white edging. The outer rim shows four digit numbers, with tiny intervals of lines (frequency markers) in white for fine tuning, in the mid circle are two digit numbers with frequency markers and with the word megacycles, also in white. In the inner circle and displayed for ornament, is a white seated figure of Atlas holding up the world. Intersecting the Atlas figure is the main tuning needle (depicted as a airplane style needle) pointing to the numbers and tuning marks located at the circumference. Below his feet is printed the name, “Atlas”. All is enclosed behind a circle of glass. Attached at the metal base of the disk is the central tuning knob in metal and white.

Skyscraper Radio, 1935
compression-molded plaskon, metal, glass, woven textile.
Gift of George R. Kravis II.
2018-22-20

A still of a video of an aerial view of Manhattan and its environs from about 50th street looking west, north and east above Park Avenue. On the left or west are East New Jersey’s coastline, the Hudson River, Manhattan’s grid beginning on the west side and continuing throughout the east side and the vastness of Central Park. Located below the Park are built structures including monolithic skyscrapers and Park Avenue appears to be the widest avenue and has blooming trees instead of traffic.

The Street Ahead
videos.
MOBILITY.014

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

Its dimensions are

66.8 × 51 cm (26 5/16 × 20 1/16 in.)

It is signed

Signed in pen and black ink, lower right: Hugh Ferriss

It is inscribed

Inscribed in black chalk, verso: #4 (underlined)/Return to Hugh Ferriss/101 Park Ave/New York, NY, USA

Cite this object as

Drawing, Study for Maximum Mass Permitted by the 1916 New York Zoning Law, Stage 4; Hugh Ferriss (American, 1889–1962); USA; black crayon, stumped, pen and black ink, brush and black wash, varnish on illustration board; 66.8 × 51 cm (26 5/16 × 20 1/16 in.) ; Gift of Mrs. Hugh Ferriss; 1969-137-4

We have 1 media file that features Drawing, Study for Maximum Mass Permitted by the 1916 New York Zoning Law, Stage 4.

"Sugar Foot Stomp," Fletcher Henderson and His Orchestra (1925)

The Hugh Ferriss drawing, Study for Maximum Mass Permitted by the 1916 New York Zoning Law, Stage 4 seemed to call out for the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra with Louis Armstrong. In “Sugar Foot...

http://www.folkways.si.edu/fletcher-henderson-and-his-orchestra/sugar-foot-stomp-dippermouth/jazz-ragtime/music/track/smithsonian

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

Short URL http://cprhw.tt/o/2CE7a/
Accession Number 1969-137-4
Object ID 18468717