Perspective view of a prefabricated sportsman's cabin or weekend house with slanted shed roof. Weldtex panels used for exterior and interior walls; intended furnishings by W. & J. Sloane and utilities, kitchen, and bath divisions by General Motors. Glass wall consisting of Aklo glass to minimize glare and heat from sun. Design includes living area with sofa and fireplace and sleeping quarter with three beds (two bunked).

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See more objects with the tag architects, architecture, presentation drawing, glass, World's Fair, pre-fabrication, cubes.

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Object Timeline

-0001	We photographed this object.
1940	Work on this object began.
1988	We acquired this object.
2013	This was an Object of the Day.
2014	We photographed this object. We exhibited this object.
2021	You found it!

Drawing, Design for Sportshack, 1940

This is a Drawing. It was from the office of Donald Deskey. It is dated 1940 and we acquired it in 1988. Its medium is brush and gouache, black ink, airbrush over stencil, graphite on illustration board. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

Sportshack was Deskey’s earliest foray into the field of prefabricated housing. Like many 1930s and 1940s design drawings, this compelling piece was executed in airbrush, an adjustable-spray technique that misted paint over a stencil to produce a slick, almost mechanical appearance.

This object was featured in our Object of the Week series in a post titled Living Modern.

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

Two views of Kundig's weekend cabin in mountain district of Idaho.

Drawing, Chicken Point Cabin, Hayden Lake, ID: West and South Elevations,...
graphite on tracing paper.
Gift of Tom Kundig.
2010-10-1

Multi-leveled, tower-like building supported by cables is shown being dropped into a crater. The building is depicted in a dynamic and vigorous swooping, diagonal orientation from lower right to upper left. The drawing illusionistically suggests the spatial volume of the tiered skyscraper, intended to be a design for low-cost, mass-produced housing. Three binder holes are along the left edge.

Print, Design for the Ten-Deck House, June 16, 1928
mimeograph print, brush and blue watercolor on white paper.
Museum purchase from Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program....
1991-53-1

Design for Cosmetics Building at the New York World’s Fair 1939–40 for Perfumery and Cosmetics Exhibits, Inc. Unfinished exterior perspective features, at left, a double-height, terra-cotta colored wall perforated by round archways and extending backward. At center, it meets perpendicular chartreuse wall onto which it casts a triangular shadow. Rectangular turquoise pavements cover ground, merging into one solid field of color beyond terra cotta wall at left before meeting a white plane; further in the distance, perspective becomes confused. In the background, a pink-white oblong tower rises above courtyard against partially finished sky in range of blue tones. At center left, a single tree surrounded by fall leaves rises from a wedge of green lawn. At center of partially enclosed area, a collaged magazine image of a perfume bottle casts a shadow onto ground. The perfume featured is Schiaparelli’s “Shocking” (first introduced in 1936), the package for which consisted of a dressmaker’s dummy wearing a branded ribbon surrounded by a bushel of glass flowers and leaves encased by a lace-rimmed glass dome set on a gold and pink velvet platform.

Drawing, Design for Cosmetics Building, New York World's Fair 1939–40, c. 1939
brush and gouache, graphite, collaged magazine image on illustration board.
Gift of Donald Deskey.
1975-11-67

Our curators have highlighted 11 objects that are related to this one. Here are three of them, selected at random:

Imaginary project: worm's eye view of exterior of tower with pipes snaking along right side.

Drawing, "Geomechanical Tower" from Centricity Series, 1987
color pencil on strathmore paper.
Museum purchase from Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program....
1999-23-1

Four drawings for Villa Stein-de Monzie, at Garches, France: facade elevation view at upper left, rear elevation view at upper right, facade aerial perspective at center, left, rear aerial perspective at lower right.

Drawing, First Studies, Villa Stein-de Monzie, Garches, France, 1926
graphite on white paperboard, mounted on canvas.
Museum purchase from James B. Ford and Peter Cooper Hewitt Estate Funds.
1936-60-2

Book Illustration, Mies van der Rohe German Pavilion in Barcelona, German...
photographic reproduction, paper.
Collection of Smithsonian Institution Libraries.
SIL39088000517367

Its dimensions are

H x W: 55.9 × 76.2 cm (22 × 30 in.) H x W (Mat): 71.1 × 91.4 cm (28 × 36 in.)

It has the following markings

Black gummed label, lower right: DONALD DESKEY / 630 FIFTH AVENUE / NEW YORK CITY; in black ink, verso: DONALD DESKEY / 630 FIFTHAVENUE / NEW YORK CITY; manufacturer's stamp in brown ink, verso: WHATMAN / DRAWING BOARD / H. Reeve Angel & Co., Inc., New York City

It is inscribed

Inscribed in graphite, center on verso: 9007 [underlined] / 13

Cite this object as

Drawing, Design for Sportshack, 1940; Office of Donald Deskey (American, 1894–1989); USA; brush and gouache, black ink, airbrush over stencil, graphite on illustration board; H x W: 55.9 × 76.2 cm (22 × 30 in.) H x W (Mat): 71.1 × 91.4 cm (28 × 36 in.); Gift of Donald Deskey; 1988-101-1515

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Making Design.

Short URL http://cprhw.tt/o/2DsqD/
Accession Number 1988-101-1515
Object ID 18624533