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# Take a Bite Out of Modernism with MoMA's 1988 Architecture Cookie Cutters
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/take-a-bite-out-of-modernism-with-momas-1988-architecture-cookie-cutters/
- Published: 2016-02-09T04:10:27.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T15:46:42.000Z
- Description: Which modern architecture icon makes a better cookie, Eero Saarinen's sleek TWA Terminal or Frank Lloyd Wright's spiraling Guggenheim Museum?
- Author: Allison Meier
- Tags: Art, Architecture, Guggenheim Museum, Le Corbusier, merchandising, MoMA, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:17 (2016, 2017, part 1)

!["Genuine Architectural Cookie Cutters"](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/02/momacookies04.jpg)

“Genuine Architectural Cookie Cutters” (1988) (all photos by the author for Hyperallergic)

Which modern architecture icon makes a better cookie, Eero Saarinen’s sleek [TWA Terminal](http://hyperallergic.com/203504/how-public-tours-helped-save-nycs-most-futuristic-air-terminal/) or Frank Lloyd Wright’s spiraling [Guggenheim Museum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon%5FR.%5FGuggenheim%5FMuseum?ref=hyperallergic.com)? Visitors to the [Museum of Modern Art](http://www.moma.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com) (MoMA) in 1988 could have compared the confectionary possibilities of these iconic buildings with the “Genuine Architectural Cookie Cutters,” created for the museum shop by architect and designer [Kenneth Walker](http://www.interiordesign.net/articles/8360-kenneth-walker/?ref=hyperallergic.com).

!["Genuine Architectural Cookie Cutters"](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/02/momacookies01.jpg)

Baked results of the “Genuine Architectural Cookie Cutters” (click to enlarge)

Back in 1988, upon the cutters’ release, Walker told the [*New York Times*](http://www.nytimes.com/1988/05/19/garden/currents-modern-landmarks-suitable-for-nibbling.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) that it “wasn’t easy to find many buildings well-known to the general public that have good strong silhouettes.” In addition to the TWA Terminal and Guggenheim, he settled on William Van Alen’s Chrysler Building; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill’s Sears Tower; Jørn Utzon’s Sydney Opera House; and Le Corbusier’s Chapel of Notre-Dame-du-Haut. Sure, that last one isn’t exactly a household name — perhaps it was a taste test for “genuine” architectural aficionados — but, like the others, it has a dough-friendly form.

I discovered the cookie cutters through the recently released [*Designing TWA: Eero Saarinen’s Airport Terminal in New York*](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/3906027759/hyperallergic-20?ref=hyperallergic.com) from [Park Books](http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/D/bo22381671.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) and soon thereafter tracked some down, unused in their original box on eBay. While Walker recommended molasses cookies to the *Times*, as “they hold their shape,” I felt like a true review should use the sugar cookie recipe on the oversize red and white box (which also contains a recipe for Moravian spice cookies, for the more adventurous).

!["Genuine Architectural Cookie Cutters"](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/02/momacookies03.jpg)

“Genuine Architectural Cookie Cutters” inside the box (click to enlarge for recipes)

!["Genuine Architectural Cookie Cutters"](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/02/momacookies02.jpg)

Shaping the dough with the “Genuine Architectural Cookie Cutters”

Not being much of a pastry chef — my last experience with sugar cookies was probably at least a decade ago — I’m probably not the best judge of what makes a good cookie cutter. The geometric flourishes of the Guggenheim did get a bit broken in the process, and it was hard to keep the sweeping TWA Terminal from snapping in two (luckily a crumbling fate [avoided by the real building](http://hyperallergic.com/203504/how-public-tours-helped-save-nycs-most-futuristic-air-terminal/)), but they overall turned out some structurally sound cookies, especially the underdog Chapel of Notre-Dame-du-Haut, thanks to Le Corbusier’s favoring of a heavy silhouette, and the tiered Sears Tower.

According to the [*Los Angeles Times*](http://articles.latimes.com/1989-04-09/magazine/tm-1551%5F1%5Fanimal-events-moma-chrysler-building?ref=hyperallergic.com)*,* Walker hoped to make some state-based cookie cutters next, including San Francisco’s [Transamerica Pyramid](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transamerica%5FPyramid?ref=hyperallergic.com) and Eureka’s [Carson House](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carson%5FMansion?ref=hyperallergic.com) for California. Alas, it doesn’t appear that they ever got mass-produced. MoMA doesn’t stock the 1980s cookie cutters anymore (perhaps no longer interested in selling a product featuring another museum), but they do seem to turn up fairly regularly on eBay.

!["Genuine Architectural Cookie Cutters"](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/02/momacookies05.jpg)

The TWA Terminal cookie cutter