Charles Deaton

Charles Utter Deaton (January 1, 1921 – December 18, 1996) was an American architect. He designed several athletic stadiums, and is noted for his futuristic Sculptured House that was featured in the 1973 film Sleeper. He is also noted as the designer of Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium and Kauffman Stadium.

Deaton started his career as a designer and inventor. He received additional patents for his various commercial designs, including furniture and interior lighting. He received his final US Letters Patent 4,688,357 in 1987 for a multi-use baseball/football sports stadium with movable seating.

Deaton was also a board game designer who received three US Patents for that work. He applied for his first patent at age 19 for the board game Gusher, which was marketed by Carrom Industries of Michigan from 1940 through the early 1960s. Deaton received US Letters Patent 2,299,803 for Gusher in 1942.

Gusher is something of an improved version of Monopoly-style trading games, with oil wildcatting as its theme. The main improvement in this game is that the board itself actually helps influence the outcome of the game: the game board is shaken before playing commences, and pieces that are distributed internally then determine which" holes" are dry wells or gushers.

Deaton's other two patents also involve games which utilize interactive boards. He received US Letters Patent 2,295,452 in 1942 for Magnetic Minesweeper, marketed in 1941 by the Walco Bead Co. of New York City. He received US Letters Patent 4,078,805 in 1978 for Country Road.

Deaton only ever earned his high school diploma but studied structural engineering, industrial design and architecture on his own, earning certification. He designed the futuristic Sculptured House on Genesee Mountain The entire complex would share parking facilities and highway infrastructure. Deaton's design for Arrowhead Stadium and Kauffman Stadium (known collectively as the Truman Sports Complex) was implemented by Kivett and Myers.

In 1969, the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans honored Deaton by naming him to its membership.

Deaton died in Morrison, Colorado at the age of 75.

Style and philosophy Deaton was known as a "Sculptural Architect". He worked in a sheet metal factory during World War II, where he discovered the ability to create any shape he could conceive, an idea he carried into his architecture career.

Deaton believed that curved architecture was superior to straight lines and angles. He thought that architecture should mirror the natural world, where rounded shapes are abundant. His sculptural model of the Key Savings and Loan Association is still intact and held in a collection of his drawings and works at the Denver Public Library.

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