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Object Timeline

1937	Work on this object began.
1975	We acquired this object.
2014	We photographed this object.
2024	You found it!

Drawing, Harold S. Anderson House: Desk

This is a Drawing. It was from the office of Donald Deskey Associates and manufactured by Company of Master Craftsmen and made for (as the client) Harold Spurrier Anderson. It is dated February 23, 1937 and we acquired it in 1975. Its medium is graphite, blue and red colored pencil on tracing paper. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

This object was donated by Donald Deskey. It is credited Gift of Donald Deskey.

A grayscale digital print of a design fiction captured in an expansive aerial view on an angle. The fictional landscape shows a meandering river with two developed land masses on both sides connected by four bridges and supported by roadways throughout. The layout of the land right of the river shows a cluster of skyscrapers and tall buildings near the riverside and inland and low rise built structures in between and around the cities. The land is mostly flat on both sides of the river. The topography of the left side includes two water conduits; one borders an enormous flat circular structure that dominates the space with upper case letters “U S N - 10” facing an outline of a circle in the center with clusters of aligned and evenly spaced low-rise built structures. The second conduit nears a roadway that extends to the rim of the circular structure. Small surface areas on the left side are devoted to clusters of vehicles. Continuing left are thickets of foliage and idle land. One’s imagination explores possibilities of usage of the circular built structure and grand land masses that resemble glaciers and/or mountains displayed in the top section of the image forming a background.

Design Fictions
digital print.
New York World’s Fair, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York....
MOBILITY.038

Book, Your World of Tomorrow
offset lithograph on paper.
Smithsonian Libraries, T785.B1 Y58 1939.
113.2018.1

A double-page spread of a booklet with a band of text along the top, below which are black and white industrial photographs of a diorama of a futuristic city viewed from an expansive, aerial perspective. The photographs appear grey-scale with sepia undertones. The fictional landscape in the photograph on the left is centered on a park with a wide, meandering river running through it, viewed diagonally, growing smaller from the bottom left corner upwards. Above the park, in the far distance, the topography of a city is seen in a cluster of skyscrapers and other buildings. Thoroughfares, bridges, and street lanes are visible but not rendered in fine detail. The right photograph appears to be the cityscape found in the background of the left photograph, but rendered in more detail. It illustrates a number of skyscrapers interspersed with low-rise built structures, surrounding a geometric, rectangular park, perhaps Central Park. On either side of the skyscrapers the land appears largely flat, but built on, perhaps with residential housing, interspersed with a few areas of foliage and idle land. The text above the left photograph states [“Through an ingenious system of traffic flow and direction from the various converging roadways, and by means of the ascending and descending ramps, a four-tier approach to the great bridge is formed. There is no interference or cutting in of traffic lanes. Cars may be driven on and off the bridge without risk of collision and with speeds maintained. / “And directly ahead we again see the river city with its four-tier bridge approach. But now we near the great metropolis of 1960. We will bank high over the city for a spectacular view of its many wonders. / “In 1940 this American city actually existed. Its population then was approximately a million per-sons. Today--in 1960--it is much larger, divided]. It continues on the right page [into three units, residential, commercial and industrial. Nine miles out from the city is a vast airport. /'Here is an American city replanned around a highly developed modern traffic system and, even though this is 1960, the system as yet is not complete. Whenever possible the rights of way of these express city thoroughfares have been so routed as to displace outmoded business sections and undesirable slum areas. / “The city of 1960 has abundant sunshine, fresh air, fine green parkways, recreational and civic centers -- all the result of thoughtful planning and design. There are approximately 38,000,000 motorcars in this America of 1960 -- almost a third more than in]. The text is surrounded by a red lined border above and below it on both pages.

Book, Futurama, 1939
offset lithograph on paper.
Smithsonian Libraries, T785 K1G32 1939.
113.2018.2

It is inscribed

Inscribed in graphite in stamp, lower center: 8608/F.S./ANDERSON/OLSSON/P.S./D/2/23/37, 3/3/37, 1, MASTER CR./ 3/18/37, 1, MASTER CR.; dimensions, instructions, and materials in graphite

Cite this object as

Drawing, Harold S. Anderson House: Desk; Manufactured by Company of Master Craftsmen (United States); Office of Donald Deskey Associates; Client: Harold Spurrier Anderson (1891 – 1941); USA; graphite, blue and red colored pencil on tracing paper; Gift of Donald Deskey; 1975-11-934

Short URL http://cprhw.tt/o/2Ed5D/
Accession Number 1975-11-934
Object ID 18771389