Edward Durell Stone Table for Fulbright Industries
Edward Durell Stone table or bench for Fulbright Industries Furniture. Produced in 1951.
Solid oak, lacquered wood.
19.5″ d x 62.5″ w × 16.25″ h
Excellent condition. The finish on the top and legs were expertly restored in the early 2000’s. There are a few scuffs on the legs.
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Edward Durell Stone (1902–1978) was a prominent American architect. He is considered one of the early modern architects in the Unites States. His first independent commission was the Richard H. Mandel House (1933). He also designed a house for Museum of Modern Art president, Conger Goodyear, in Old Westbury, NY (1938). That home included the first table designed by Isamu Noguchi.
After designing the Museum of Modern Art (with Philip Goodwin) and Radio City Music Hall, both in New York City, Stone returned to his home state of Arkansas.
His friend and fellow Fayetteville native, U.S Senator J. William Fulbright (yes that one) had two family-owned businesses, the Springfield Wagon Co. and Phipps Lumber Co. In order to make up for the decreased demand for wagons, Fulbright wanted to retool the operations to produce furniture. He asked Stone to design it. A grouping of tables, stools, chairs, and a room divider were produced.
The stool design included refashioned wagon wheel sections to form the seat and plow handles were used as legs.
In 2011, an exhibition of the furniture was exhibited at Ozark Modern, at the University of Arkansas Fine Arts Center Gallery, a building Stone designed in 1958. He attended UA before moving to Boston to study architecture.
J. William Fulbright and Edward Durell Stone
In 1954 Stone designed one of his most prolific buildings, The Embassy of the United States in New Delhi, India. Later he designed the Stuart Pharmaceutical Company (1958) Beckman Auditorium (1964) on the Caltech campus, both in Pasadena, California.