Everything and the ($11,340) Bathroom Sink

Henry Dreyfuss

It might be an exaggeration to say that Henry Dreyfuss invented the way the 20th century looked, but not by much. Dreyfuss (1904-1972) was an American industrial design pioneer best known for designing some of the most iconic devices found in American homes and offices throughout the century, including the Western Electric Model 500 telephone, the Westclox Big Ben alarm clock, and the Honeywell round thermostat.

Honeywell Thermostat, c. 1942.

Have you ever owned a Polaroid camera? Dreyfuss designed most of them. How about a Hoover vacuum cleaner? Or a Singer sewing machine? Or maybe a Royal typewriter from the 1940s? All came from Dreyfuss’s design genius.

Dickson Table Clock, Seth Thomas, 1939.

On a larger scale, Dreyfuss designed the green-and-yellow John Deere tractor, which still looks so cool. He also designed the 20th Century Limited, perhaps the most elegant train in U.S. history.

New York Central System’s 20th Century Limited.

In June 1938, the New York Central introduced new locomotives and Pullman cars. Their breathtakingly bold streamlined design was the handiwork of an industrial designer whose work would become iconic: Dreyfuss. Streamliner trains achieved greater speed on the storied New York to Chicago run because of engineering improvements that lightened the steel framework and increased the locomotive power.

And visually, there was nothing else like them, thanks to Dreyfuss.

That era of great Industrial Design began during the Great Depression and ended in the ’50s. It produced a streamlined, soaring style that expressed its utter faith in man’s works.
Dreyfuss’ role was not to produce the huge monuments of the era, like the Empire State Building, but everyday objects. Because of that, his influence was as great, if not greater, than that of the monument builders themselves. His objects contained the same elements of faith but were touched and used every day. They still are.

1937 Rotary Telephone

Recently, a Crane Neuvogue Pedestal sink, c. 1939, designed by Dreyfuss, sold for $11,340 at Wright Auctions. The piece represents the pinnacle of Art Deco sink design. The Neuvogue fixtures designed by Dreyfuss for Crane display the streamlined look of the late 1930s. The rectangular sink top was perched on a china pedestal or a sleek tubular chrome-plated stand. Neuvogue sinks featured a wide waterfall-shaped integral china spout set on top of the flat sink top, with ovoid lever handles mounted on the sides of the spout. The basin was a distinctive half-round shape.

The epitome of Art Deco design, a Crane Neuvogue
Pedestal sink, c. 1939, sold for $11,340 at Wright Auctions.