Tag Archives: Joseph Urban

Vanished New York City Art Deco – The Rismont Restaurant and Tea Room & John Vassos

Rismont Restaurant and Tea Room neon sign.

Rismont Restaurant and Tea Room’s neon sign. Image from Pencil Points, December, 1931.

The Rismont Restaurant and Tea Room, on the ground floor of the Bricken Casino Building offered a modernistic setting for a quick bite to eat in the early 1930s. By the late 1920s the Manhattan’s garment industry had encroached upon the theatre district. And the wonderfully Moorish style Casino Theatre standing on the southeast corner of Broadway and 39th Street since 1883 had to go.

 

The Casino Theatre at Broadway and 39th Street.

Casino Theatre in 1900, on the southeast corner of Broadway and 39th Street. Colorized photo from Facebook.

In 1930 the Casino Theatre met the wrecking ball. And up went the Bricken Casino Building (1931). Designed by Ely Jacques Kahn (1884 – 1972) in a stepped back, wedding cake style. The 407 foot, 35 story, black granite, white brick building was typical of the modern mid-sized skyscrapers going up just below Times Square at that time.

 

Ely Jacques Kahn's Bricken Casino Building, circa 1932.

The Bricken Casino Building (center left), circa 1932, Ely Jacques Kahn, architect. Image from the New York Public Library Digital Collections.

In a small portion of the ground floor, along Broadway, the Rismont Restaurant and Tearoom opened up. Original plans called for a restaurant in a traditional style. With restaurant competition being high in that section of town, the new restaurant needed to have an edge. And the person the provide the edge that restaurant would need was artist and industrial designer John Vassos (1898 – 1985).

 

John Vassos, 1929.

John Vassos, 1929. Image from Heritage Auctions.

In the late 1920s and new field started developing in the United States, Industrial Design. And John Vassos was among the members in this new profession that included, Norman Bel Geddes, Gilbert Rhode, Walter Dorwin Teague, Raymond Loewy and Henry Dreyfuss.  Vassos, born in Romania to Greek parents, spent most of his childhood and young adulthood in Constantinople (Istanbul), Turkey. During the First World War he served on the side of the Allies and immigrated to the United States in 1919. Settling in Boston, he attended the Fenway Art School and worked as an assistant to Joseph Urban. After moving to New York City in 1924, Vassos set up his own studio.  Here he created window displays for stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Wanamaker’s as well as advertisements for Packard Motors Cars.

 

1932 mock up for a Packard Motor Car advertisement by John Vassos.

1932 John Vassos mock up for a Packard Motor Car advertisement. Image from the Smithsonian.

 

Publisher E. P. Dutton hired Vassos in 1927 to do illustrations for an edition of Oscar Wilde’s Salome. These illustration’s are perfect examples of Vassos’ graphic style, bold and somewhat forbidding.

 

 

Vassos, as well as being an artist and industrial designer also had a strong interest in psychology. This led to his 1931 book Phobia in which he illustrated many types of fears people were suffering from in modern life. His wife Ruth wrote the text to accompany his striking pictures.

 

The cover to the 1931 book by Vassos, Phobia.

The cover of Phobia. Image from thornbooks.com.

 

 

And, believe it or not, this interest in psychology influenced Vassos’ design for the Rismont Restaurant and Tea Room.

 

The Rismont Restaurant & Tea Room

 

Nighttime exterior of the Rismont Restaurant and Tea Room.

Exterior photograph of the Rismont. Photograph by Peyser and Patzig, from Pencil Points, December, 1931, Pg. 889.

His psychological interests informed his design for the Rismont. Writing about the Rismont in the architectural magazine, Pencil Points he said this about the exterior:

“As you look from the street  into the restaurant, you get a feeling of space and openness – due to the lighting and the fact that the windows have not been closed in but are clear glass giving full vista of the interior. Human beings, like moths, are attracted by light, so I even went further and put a shaft of light between the front doors” – Pencil Points, December, 1931, Pg. 896.

 

According to Vassos the shape of the space was ugly and difficult. There was no visual interest in the funnel-shaped room. So to create interest Vassos divided the room into three “light sections”. Then he treated the counter and soda fountain as a separate unit.

 

The interior of the Rismont looking toward the rear from the entrance.

Looking toward the rear of the funnel-shaped room from the entrance. Photograph by Peyser and Patzig, from Pencil Points, December, 1931, Pg. 890.

Above the soda fountain counter, Vassos created a “light beam”. Running almost the entire length of the counter, the lights inside were behind opaque glass, diffusing the light and casting no shadows. Also inside this “light beam” Vassos placed the air cooling and purifying system.

 

The lunch counter / soda fountain and "light beam".

The soda fountain and “light beam”. Image from Broadcast News, February, 1934, Pg. 19.

 

For lighting the majority of the room, Vassos employed indirect lighting. On the four structural columns he placed perpendicular troughs of lights. Made of aluminum, the light bulbs inside bounced the light back onto the plaster of the column and not directly into the room. The Indirect lighting turned the solid column into what Vassos called “a shaft of light”.

 

View of the lunch counter and a structural column from just inside the entrance of the Rismont.

Rismont interiror. View from just inside the entrance looking towards the lunch counter. Note the column the aluminum troughs. Photograph by Peyser and Patzig, from Pencil Points, December, 1931, Pg. 891.

 

To divide the small room into three sections, Vassos employed semi-circular aluminum troughs on the ceiling. Filled with bulbs, these troughs cast an even spread of light over the section.

 

Looking toward the rear from the middle of the room.

Looking toward the rear from the middle of the room. This gives a good view of the semi-circular ceiling troughs. Photograph by Peyser and Patzig, from Pencil Points, December, 1931, Pg. 890.

The wall sconces represented a very stylized, modernistic stem, leaf and bud. The dark wood of the candy counter was broken up by two bands of aluminum. And topping off the glass counter Vassos designed two almost futuristic lights. Supported by two metal bars, the frosted glass shade was sandwiched between metal ends and two glass discs.

 

Rismont candy counter and wall detail.

The Rismont candy counter, with detail of counter lamps and wall sconce. Photograph by Peyser and Patzig, from Pencil Points, December, 1931, Pg. 894.

Vassos employed a soothing color scheme inside the restaurant. The overall palette was three shades of beige. A Spanish Rose fabrikoid with black buttons covered the seats. Using three legs, Vassos made the seats comfortable for sitting for short periods of time, this way people would not linger therefore creating more turnover. The black formica top tables rested on three rolled aluminum tube legs.  The benches were a combination of walnut on aluminum bases.

 

Looking towards the entrance and soda fountain.

Looking toward the front of the restaurant. Photograph by Peyser and Patzig, from Pencil Points, December, 1931, Pg. 891.

 

By early May, 1931 the Rismont threw open its doors. And on May 6th, Vassos hosted a party for his friends inside the new restaurant. The reviews in the papers were not what he expected. Beverly Smith wrote this in the New York Herald-Tribune

Designer Lures Literary Folks to Soda Fountain. Invitations Call Post-Modern Parlor Bar and All It Squirts is Tea, Syrup.

In the corridor of a newly-erected skyscraper at 1410 Broadway late yesterday afternoon, a mysterious murmur was heard. There was a rising buzz, the faint sound of crackling laughter. Within, in a post-modernistic setting, more than a hundred authors and critics sat in their chairs, stood at the bar or shouted compliments at each other. Those persons inside were veterans of a hundred literary teas, but when they looked about and saw where they were, there was a natural, human panic. 

They saw, with tragic clearness, for the first time, that they were trapped in a soda fountain. No way out, except a narrow door opening onto Broadway. 

New York Herald-Tribune, May 7, 1931 Pg. 17. 

 

Ten days later the New York Herald-Tribune “Turns With a Bookworm” column featured another less than flattering critique of the restaurant –

This modern art is too much for us . . . We went to a small party given by Dutton’s and John Vassos for a preview of the Rismont tearoom-restaurant because Mr. Vassos designed it. It was all aluminum what-nots and sealing wax upholstery and three-cornered chairs. There was a large eagle ornament on the bar, which we thought was made of glass, and it proved to be ice; and this discovery, combined with the spectacle of Bill Benét sitting on a three-cornered chair not much bigger than a matchbox, so discomposed us that we backed into a freshly painted wall. And a strange but good looking gal fell right off another three-cornered chair with a loud crash . . .

It’s simply not fair what these artists are doing, for we realize at last that they are doing it on purpose, and stand by laughing heartily after they’ve suspended a crystal cake-stand from the ceiling and told us it’s a chandelier. 

New York Herald-Tribune, May 17, 1931 Pg. J15.

 

Front of the Rismont, candy counter and cashier desk.

The Rismont, looking toward the front and the candy counter and cashier desk. Photograph by Peyser and Patzig, from Pencil Points, December, 1931, Pg. 894.

 

A point Vassos made in his article in Pencil Points regarding the need for customer turnover was this –

There was one extremely important thing to be borne in mind. This is probably one of the most expensive restaurants per foot of floor space in the world. And the only way it could be made a paying proposition was to be able to serve a great many people quickly. In other words the place had to be attractive and comfortable, but it had to be so planned that people would not be tempted to lounge. Therefore , the benches are wide enough – but not too wide – and the customer realizes after eating his or her luncheon that the place to smoke one’s cigarette is outside.

Pencil Points, December, 1931, Pg. 896.

 

Unfortunately the Rismont would not be around long. For whatever reason, too much competition, the deepening of the depression or the place was just too small to turn a reasonable profit, by the autumn of 1933 it was gone. The space occupied by the Rismont Restaurant and Tearoom had been replaced by M. Walker and Sons clothiers.

 

Anthony & Chris (The Freakin’ ‘Tiquen Guys)

 

Sources

The New York Herald-Tribune

Pencil Points

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Visit to the Cooper Hewitt Museum

The Jazz Age exhibition now at the Cooper Hewitt.

The Jazz Age American Style in the 1920’s at the Cooper Hewitt Museum until August 20, 2017. Poster for the exhibit on the fence outside the museum grounds.

 

One of the current exhibits at the Cooper Hewitt Museum, The Jazz Age, American Style in the 1920s, is a must see for any lover of Art Deco. The Cooper Hewitt, a division of the Smithsonian is the only museum in the United States devoted exclusively to historical and contemporary design. The Cooper Hewitt’s home is in the former Andrew Carnegie mansion at 5th Avenue and 91st Street, New York City. Completed in 1903 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966, the Cooper Hewitt opened there in 1976.

 

The Cooper Hewitt Museum and Garden.

The Cooper Hewitt Museum and garden. Image from cooperhewitt.org

 

The entrance to the Jazz Exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt Museuem

The Jazz Age Exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt Museum, New York City.

 

The Jazz Age is an exhibition in collaboration with the Cleveland Museum of Art. Encompassing all aspects of mid-1920’s through mid-1930’s modern design from furniture, to clothing to jewelry to art the exhibit is so large that it takes up two floors of the Cooper Hewitt. Going up the main staircase to the exhibit there are two large panels of wall covering from the Ziegfeld Theatre (1927-1966).

 

 

Ziegfeld Theatre interior.

The interior of the Ziegfeld Theatre, showing a portion of Joseph Urban’s mural The Joy of Life. Image from Pinterest.

The panels are oil on canvas and are on loan from the collection of Richard H. Driehaus. Period photographs do not justice to the mural, it comes to life when seen in color. When entering the exhibit proper there is a remarkable mirror, lamp and console table.

 

Collection of items from the Rose Iron Works, 1930.

Rose Iron Works mirror, console table and lamp, circa, 1930. On loan to the Cooper Hewitt from the Rose Iron Works Collection. Rose Iron Works, Cleveland, Ohio.

1930 Rose Iron Works mirror.

Paul Fehèr designed mirror for the Rose Iron Works, 1930.

Rose Iron Works console table.

Console table made by the Rose Iron Works in 1930. Designed by Paul Fehèr. Because of the Depression the table went unsold.

Paul Kiss Studio lamp from the late 1920s.

Paul Kiss Studio lamp circa, 1927. Purchased by the Rose Iron Works for inspiration when they began creating items in modern design.

 

Glass

Throughout the exhibit one can see many of the finest examples of glass produced in the 1920’s and 1930’s. Here are some examples that caught our eye.

 

Daum Frères glass vase, circa 1925 -1 930.

French vase produced by Daum Frères, circa 1925 – 1930. Using animals as a decorative motif was popular in the Art Deco era. And especially popular was the leaping gazelle such as the one seen on this cased glass vase. This vase is on loan from the Dallas Museum of Art.

The Gazelle Bowl (Steuben Glass, Inc.,  1935) designed by Sidney Waugh is prominently displayed on the second floor of the exhibit. This is one of the most iconic pieces of glass to come out of the era between the World Wars.

The Gazelle Bowl.

Steuben Glass’ Gazelle Bowl, 1935. Designed by Sidney Waugh.

 

The 1926 vase Tourbillons (Whirlwinds) designed by Suzanne Lalique went into production by René Lalique. Created through mass production pressing and hand-carving and accented with black enamel, it was a new look and technique in decorative glass. It was one of the French objects in Lord and Taylor’s  1928 Exposition of Modern French Decorative Art. One of the earliest shows in the United States of the new decorative style.

Tourbillons Vase, Lalique.

Tourbillons (Whirlwinds) Vase, 1926. Designed by Suzanne Lalique and put into production by René Lalique. Part of the Cooper Hewitt’s Product Design and Decorative Arts Department.

 

Another classic Lalique vase on display is the Beauvais Vase of 1931. Designed by Suzanne Lalique, like Tourbillons. It is part of the Cooper Hewitt’s Product Design and Decorative Arts department.

Beauvais Vase, 1931.

Suzanne Lalique’s Beauvais Vase of 1931. Put into production by René Lalique. Part of the Cooper Hewitt’s Product Design and Decorative Arts Department.

Two Walter Dorwin Teague designs for Steuben Glass made it into the exhibit. Teague hired on a one year contract to Steuben to make it the finest glass company in America. Using the then current Scandinavian trend of pale or colorless glass, one his designs was a spherical bowl. The bowl dates from 1932.

 

Teague bowl for Steuben, 1932.

Steuben Glass bowl designed by Walter Dorwin Teague, 1932. In the Cooper Hewitt’s Product Design and Decorative Arts Department.

Teague's Lens bowl for Steuben Glass.

Walter Dorwin Teague’s Lens Bowl for Steuben Glass, 1932. Part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts department.

Teague derived his inspiration for the lens bowl from the glass lenses the Corning Glass Works produced from railroad signals and locomotive lights. Most of the glass Teague designed for Steuben ended production in 1933 when his contract with the company expired.

 

Ruba Rombic display sign, 1928.

Ruba Rombic an Epic in Modern Art

 

In an enclosed case there are several pieces of this very rare glass. Designed by Reuben Haley for the Consolidated Glass Company, his inspiration came from items he had seen at the 1925 Paris Exposition. When debuted at the 1928 Pittsburgh Glass Fair one trade journal wrote:

“it is the craziest thing ever brought out in glassware . . . The first reaction is all but shock, yet the more pieces are studied, the more they appeal and there comes a realization that with all their distorted appearance they have a balance that is perfect and are true specimens of cubist art.”

Ruba Rombic was only in production for a few years. Due to the depression, Consolidated closed its doors in 1932. When they reopened in 1936 Ruba Rombic would no longer be part of their line. The cubism of the glassware, so avant-garde in the late 1920’s would have looked very dated by 1936 as streamlining became the popular new design form.

 

Jungle Green 10 inch Ruba Rombic Vase.

Ruba Rombic 10 inch vase in Jungle Green. Product Design and Decorative Arts collection – Cooper Hewitt.

 

Ruba Rombic Toilet Bottle in Smokey Topaz.

Toilet Bottle in Smokey Topaz. Ruba Rombic was available in eight standard colors. Smokey Topaz and Jungle Green are the colors most commonly found. This bottle is part of the Cooper Hewitt’s Product Design and Decorative Arts collection.

 

Ruba Rombic Jade 7 inch vase.

7 inch vase in Jade (cased glass). Cased glass Ruba Rombic has a higher value than the clear colors of Jungle Green and Smokey Topaz. Product Design and Decorative Arts collection – Cooper Hewitt.

 

Furniture

So many iconic pieces of furniture were on display that it is hard to pick just a few for this post. But here are a few of our favorites –

 

Barcelona Chair

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Chair MR 90 (Barcelona chair) by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, 1929.

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona chair (Model MR 90) of 1929. Manufactured by the Berliner Metallgewerbe in 1930. On loan from The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

This chair is often thought of as a Mid-Century Modern design. In actuality, van der Rohe created it in 1929 for the German Pavilion at the International Exposition, Barcelona, Spain. The chair so forward in its design that it is still in production to this day.

 

Marcel Breuer’s B3 (Wassily) Chair

Marcel Breuer's Wassily or B3 Chair.

Marcel Breuer’s B3 Chair, better known as the Wassily chair. Designed in 1925 and manufactured in 1927, it was one of the first pieces of furniture to use tubular chrome steel. Tubular steel became a very popular modern furniture material during the interwar years. This chair is part of the permanent collection of the Cooper Hewitt.

 

Lounge, LC4

Designed by Le Corbusier, Charlotte Periand &

Pierre Jeanneret

Lounge, LC4 1928

Designed in 1928, the LC in the name stands for “long chair”. The lounge follows the human form. The LC4 is on loan from the Brooklyn Museum.

 

Corner Cabinet, ca. 1923

Jacques Ruhlmann

Early Deco cabinet. 1923

Corner Cabinet designed by Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann. Kingwood veneer on mahogany with ivory inlay. This piece is on loan from the Brooklyn Museum.

 

A corner cabinet designed by Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann in 1923 for the residence of A. Weitz of Lyon, France. Two years later Ruhlmann was one of the principal designers exhibiting at the 1925 Paris Exposition. His designs were a great influence at the start of the Art Deco era.

 

Skyscraper Bookcase Desk

Paul T. Frankl, ca. 1928

Frankl’s “Skyscraper” line of furniture captured the optimism and exuberance of the United States in the late 1920’s. The bookcase desk is quintessential of this line and how it mimics the setback look of then current construction trends.

1928 Skyscraper bookcase desk.

Paul Frankl bookcase desk from his “Skyscraper” furniture line. On loan from the Grand Rapids Art Museum.

 

Donald Deskey

Table, ca. 1928

Donald Deskey table.

Donald Deskey table for the Ypsilanti Reed Furniture Company and Deskey-Vollmer, ca. 1928. Part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts department of the Cooper Hewitt Museum.

This table is a good example of Donald Deskey’s use of mixed media combining chrome with wood and a painted abstract detail.

 

K.E.M. Weber

Sideboard and Chair, 1928-29

 

K.E.M. Weber group.

Sideboard and chair designed by K.E.M. Weber in 1928. Green painted wood and faux leather. On loan from The Cleveland Museum of Art.

Los Angeles based industrial designer, architect and artist created this set in the late 1920’s. Pieces from this group can be seen in several films such as King of Jazz (Universal, 1930) and Trouble in Paradise (Paramount, 1932).

 

Airline Chair, 1934

Airline Chair by K.E.M. Weber, 1934.

1934 Airline Chair by K.E.M. Weber. Part of Cooper Hewitt’s Product Design and Decorative Arts Department.

 

One of the first assemble yourself pieces of furniture, K.E.M. Weber’s Airline Chair of 1934 is an iconic piece of streamline style furniture from the mid-1930’s. For more on Weber and this chair, check out this article by Ben Marks and Lisa Hix from Collector’s Weekly.

 

These are only a very few of the iconic Art Deco items in this amazing exhibit. If you like 20th Century design this is a don’t miss show. The exhibit runs through August 20th at the Cooper Hewitt Museum before moving to The Cleveland Museum of Art. In Cleveland land it will run from September 20, 2017 through January 14, 2018.

 

Anthony & Chris (The Freakin’, Tiquen’ Guys)

 

If you enjoyed this post check out this earlier one:

Walter Dorwin Teague Treasures at the Dallas Museum of Art