About Warren McArthur

Warren McArthur, a mechanical engineer by training, registered several patents for furniture construction methods using standardized aluminum parts. Aluminum, during the 1930s, was becoming popular among designers and furniture makers. It was lighter than steel, resistant to corrosion, and could be produced in different colors. Raised in Chicago, his father was one of the first to own a car, and, in 1892, hired Frank Lloyd Wright to design their house. When McArthur moved to Arizona to for a series of business ventures introducing modern aesthetics to the Phoenix area, his father funded almost every project. With this financial and inspirational support, McArthur created a sizable catalogue of furniture and technological innovations in aluminum furniture production. McArthur studied mechanical engineering at Cornell, graduating in 1908. Between 1911 and 1914 he filed for no ten patents for lamp designs, including one that is still manufactured in a slightly revised version by the Dietz Lantern Co. in Chicago. He moved to Phoenix in 1913 to work with his brother Charles. McArthur developed an adapter for car radiators so that they wouldn't overheat in the desert conditions and they ran a dozen car dealerships around Arizona. They created the "Wonder Bus," one of the first recreational vehicles, in order to promote the tourist industry and the newly finished highway system with access to the National Parks. In 1929 McArthur went out to Los Angeles to start a metal furniture business. He began making custom pieces but soon began to focus more specifically on creating new methods of joining the pieces together. He developed notched tubes and milled washers with different surfaces, standardized units for manufacturing, and the anodic process that would make aluminum hard and relatively impossible to tarnish. This allowed him to give his products a lifetime guarantee and also to introduce a coloring technique that yielded dyes that wouldn't crack or chip. The anodic process made the metal porous, and the dyes infiltrated the pores in such a way that they actually became part of the metal, rather than just an outer coat. These processes and colors soon became a prevalent icon of 1930's Hollywood. Warner Bros. furnished their new theater in McArthur furniture, as did the Ambassador Hotel. His pieces were seen on the sets of movies and in the homes of stars and directors. They were recognizable for their curved tubing and the way he used rounded edges almost more prevalently than right angles. He produced an extensive array of lounges, sofas and end tables that were decorated by the grids and overlaying bars within the framework. He also decorated by using upholstery in dramatic contrasting colors like red and canary yellow, or red and ebony. He designed lounges for outdoor use like the "Sun Fast," advertised in his catalogue as "a dripping chair" that would stand the test of sun and rain. Two of his best-known pieces are the 1932 "Ambassador" armchair and ottoman and the 1933 "Biltmore" chair with an upholstered seat and tubular arm rests. Harassed by financial burdens, as he was continuously after his father's death, he relocated to Rome, New York in 1933 to manufacture his designs.