In 1925, when many of his contemporaries were traveling to Paris to attend the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts, Paul Frankl decided to remain in New York. He spent that summer in the Catskills, where he set himself the challenge of developing a modern style of design that was inherently American and resonated with the new national architecture: the skyscraper.¹ As he stated in his autobiography,

"The skyscraper, at first but an overgrown architectural freak, at last had found its legitimate place in architecture—it’s new setback form void of meaningless trimmings, an appropriate solution for its function—setting a style expressive of our time. . . . I came to realize that with setback architecture we had developed a contemporary style of our own. It also was clear in my mind that styes in furniture and decorating had to follow styles in architecture. Contemporary American furniture, to succeed, had to be a straightforward, true expression of ourselves."²

Frankl serendipitously arrived at the idea to create furniture mimicking the stepped-back appearance of New York City skyscrapers while seeking a solution to organize his books within his small cabin. He gathered boards to build shelves that were made to fit the various sizes of books in his collection, including oversized illustrated architectural volumes that would not fit on standard shelves. Once the shelves were completed, Frankl stacked them in the corner of the room to save space. He placed the larger, bulkier shelf on the bottom and the narrower case on top, creating a towering structure that almost reached the ceiling.³ Frankl later recalled, “Unknowingly, almost effortlessly, I had accomplished what I was striving for, expressing the creative spirit of the time that prompted it.”⁴ Following this moment of inspiration, he began creating an entire series of space-saving, unadorned, and utilitarian designs that would become the Skyscraper Furniture line. In addition to bookcases, the Skyscraper series included desks, end tables, dressing tables, and occasional tables, such as this example from the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Each piece was made by hand according to Frankl’s designs and available at his gallery on 48th Street in New York City. The designs demonstrate a striking amount of variety, but each example maintains the iconic stepped profile. Frankl also employed a variety of finishes within the line, including natural wood, paint, lacquer, and silver leaf. The Skyscraper Furniture line was an instant sensation and offered an ideal solution for those looking to furnish a modern high-rise apartment. To meet the rising demand for his work, Frankl hired local craftspeople to produce the furniture according to his designs. However, he did not closely prescribe the manner of construction, which resulted in the creation of works of uneven quality.⁵ —Sarah Marie Horne