Architect Edward Durrell Stone and interior designer Donald Deskey designed Radio City Music Hall in the Art Deco style. Founds Deskey-Vollmer, Inc., in New York City 1932 Unconventionally combines natural materials like marble and gold with new industrial materials like Bakelite and aluminum to create luxe art deco interior designs, textiles and furniture for Radio City Music Hall Back in the Great Depression of 1929, John D. Rockefeller purchased the part of Manhattan that is now home to Radio City and Rockefeller Center. 1975-11-42. Over the years, Radio City became worn and ill-equipped for the quality of performance that today's audiences expect, and in the late '70s it was on the verge of demolition. Collection Record It was while doing work on their West 54th Street mansion that Deskey was invited to enter the competition for the coveted Music Hall job—and the rest is history. But from the moment opening night visitors passed through the lobby and entered the Grand Foyer, his popular legacy was secured. Henry Dreyfuss is best…
In August of 1932 , Deskey is quoted as saying, ”We hope to impress the customers by sheer elegance, not by overwhelming them with ornament”.
Gift of Donald Deskey. Radio City Music Hall, a magnificent Art Deco theater in New York City, opens at the height of the Great Depression. At age 35, Donald Deskey’s commission to oversee all aspects of the interior of Radio City Music Hall was a triumph. 1975-11-42. This was done in an attempt to inject life into Midtown, generate much needed jobs and be a beacon of hope.
Learn more about Radio City Music Hall before you go.
Radio City Music Hall was built on a plot of land that was originally intended for a Metropolitan Opera House. The Music Hall was designed by Edward Durell Stone and Donald Deskey in an Art Deco fashion, and today showcases a variety of artworks. Radio City Music Hall Seating Capacity. It must be noted that Radio City Music Hall is a theater, not an arena.
Drawing: Radio City Music Hall: Carpet Design: Still Life with Violins and Wine Glasses. For instance, Donald Deskey was a furniture and interior designer who used an elaborate Art Deco style in his product design; his masterpiece was the interior of Radio City Music Hall in New York’s Rockefeller Center (a contract he was awarded in 1932).
Gift of Donald Deskey. 1932. While the annual Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular has become the main attraction of the theater drawing fifty percent of the hall’s yearly visitors, the theater itself is what makes Radio City Music Hall the grandest theatre in the world. The result was an … Upon opening its doors for the first time on a rainy winter’s night in 1932, the Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan was proclaimed so extraordinarily beautiful as to need no performers at all. In fact, he was relatively unknown. ... and designed by Donald Deskey. It All Began with John D. Rockefeller.
The opera house plans were canceled in 1929, leading to the construction of Rockefeller Center.. Radio City Music Hall was designed by Edward Durell Stone and Donald Deskey in the Art Deco style. For Radio City, Deskey made art an integral part of the design, engaging a team of 21 artists to create bold and innovative murals, sculptures and plaques. Donald Deskey wasn’t the most celebrated interior designer to enter the competition for design of the Music Hall’s interior spaces.