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Lot Essay
cf. C. Borngräber, Stilnovo Design in den 50er Jahren Phantasie und Phantastik, Frankfurt 1979, p. 114, fig. 3.45 for an interior of a Barton's candy store showing ceiling lights of this model in situ.
cf. J. M. Hardwick, Mall maker: Victor Gruen, Architect of an American Dream, Philadelphia 2004, pp. 37, 38, 39, 49, 73.
Viennese immigrant Victor Gruen has often been called the father of the shopping mall. It was he who designed America's first enclosed shopping centre in Edina, Minnesota, which opened to the public in 1956. Shortly after arriving in New York in 1938, Gruen had been entrusted with the design of Barton's Bonbonnière, a new candy store. The interior of the store on 81st street and Broadway was such a success that the Museum of Modern Art called it a "gay and attractive modern shop" and Architectural Forum devoted several pages to it in its September 1941 issue. By 1952, Gruen was asked to design the fiftieth Barton's candy store.
The present ceiling light was originally located in a Barton's Bonbonnière in San Francisco. Only five ceiling lights are known to have survived. have survived. have survived.
cf. J. M. Hardwick, Mall maker: Victor Gruen, Architect of an American Dream, Philadelphia 2004, pp. 37, 38, 39, 49, 73.
Viennese immigrant Victor Gruen has often been called the father of the shopping mall. It was he who designed America's first enclosed shopping centre in Edina, Minnesota, which opened to the public in 1956. Shortly after arriving in New York in 1938, Gruen had been entrusted with the design of Barton's Bonbonnière, a new candy store. The interior of the store on 81st street and Broadway was such a success that the Museum of Modern Art called it a "gay and attractive modern shop" and Architectural Forum devoted several pages to it in its September 1941 issue. By 1952, Gruen was asked to design the fiftieth Barton's candy store.
The present ceiling light was originally located in a Barton's Bonbonnière in San Francisco. Only five ceiling lights are known to have survived. have survived. have survived.