Article: Art Deco (), or Deco, also known as Style Moderne, is a style of visual arts, architecture and design that first appeared in France just before World War I. It became popular in the 1920s and 1930s and influenced the design of buildings, furniture, cars, movie theaters, trains, ocean liners. It took its name, short for Arts Décoratifs, from the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes (International Exposition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts) held in Paris in 1925. Unlike the preceding Art Nouveau style, Art Deco features geometric shapes, clear and precise lines, and decoration which is attached to the structure. One of its major attributes is an embrace of technology.
During its heyday, Art Deco represented luxury, glamour, exuberance, and faith in social and technological progress. The later period of the style, called streamline moderne, features curving forms and long horizontal lines. The style is often characterized by rich colors, bold geometric shapes and lavish ornamentation. It was a transitional style between Art Nouveau and Modernism, and was the first truly international architectural style, with examples found in in European cities, Russia, Latin America, Africa and Asia.
Naming
Art Deco took its name, short for Arts Décoratifs, from the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes (International Exposition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts) held in Paris in 1925, though the architectural style had already appeared in Paris and Brussels before World War I. In French it is often called Style Moderne.
Origins
Art Deco was the successor to and reaction against Art Nouveau, a style which flourished in Europe between 1895 and 1914 Eugène Grasset wrote and published Méthode de Composition Ornementale, Éléments Rectilignes, within which he systematically explored the decorative (ornamental) aspects of geometric elements, forms, motifs and their variations, in contrast with (and as a departure from) the undulating Art Nouveau style of Hector Guimard, so popular in Paris a few years earlier. Grasset stressed the principle that various simple geometric shapes like triangles and squares are the basis of all compositional arrangements.
Attributes
Art Deco broke with the Art Nouveau before it by replacing curved lines and vegetal forms with rectangular volumes and lines that were straight, simple, and precise. The later years of Art Deco saw the emergence of a sub-style, called streamline moderne, gave buildings rounded corners and long horizontal straight lines. Decoration in Art Deco, made in marble or stucco, was attached to the building, rather than part of it. Decoration often consisted of mosaic, ceramics and wrought iron. Motifs frequently used were zigzags, chevrons, and sunbursts. The building material was usually reinforced concrete, while modern materials, including aluminum, stainless steel, Bakelite, and chrome were often used in the decoration. Stained glass, inlays, and lacquer also were common, and Colors tended to be vivid and high contrast.
In furniture and interior decoration, as in architecture, the rectangular volumes were most common; lines and corners were straight or rounded. Decoration often consisted, of stylized roses or rosettes or baskets of flowers, or sculpted geometric elements.
In the 1920s and 1930s, Art Deco developed in parallel with Modernist architecture and design. The distinction was decoration; it was a key element in Art Deco, and resolutely avoided in modernist architecture.
Painting and fashion
The art style known as cubism, which appeared in France before the First World War, influenced the development of Art Deco. At the 1907 Salon d'Automne in Paris, Georges Braque exhibited Viaduc à l'Estaque (a proto-Cubist work), now at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Simultaneously, there was a retrospective exhibition of 56 works by Paul Cézanne, as a tribute to the artist who died in 1906. Cézanne was interested in the simplification of forms to their geometric essentials: the cylinder, the sphere, the cone.
At the 1910 Salon des Indépendants, Jean Metzinger, Henri Le Fauconnier and Robert Delaunay, shown together in Room 18, elaborated upon Cézannian syntax, revealing to the general public for the first time a "mobile perspective" in their art, soon to become known as Cubism. Several months later, the Salon d'Automne saw the invitation of Munich artists who for several years had been working with simple geometric shapes. Leading up to 1910 and culminating in 1912, the French designers André Mare and Louis Sue turned towards the quasi-mystical Golden ratio, in accord with Pythagorean and Platonic traditions, giving their works a Cubist sensibility.Deco was heavily influenced by pre-modern art from around the world and observable at the Musée du Louvre, Musée de l'Homme and the Musée national des Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie. During the 1920s, affordable travel permitted in situ exposure to other cultures. There was also popular interest in archeology due to excavations at Pompeii, Troy, the tomb of Tutankhamun, etc. Artists and designers integrated motifs from ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, Rome, Asia, Mesoamerica and Oceania with Machine Age elements.
The artists of the Section d'Or exhibited (in 1912) works considerably more accessible to the general public than the analytical Cubism of Picasso and Braque. The Cubist vocabulary was poised to attract fashion, furniture and interior designers.
In addition to Cubism, Art Deco painting was influenced by Constructivism, Functionalism, Modernism, and Futurism.
These revolutionary changes occurring at the outset of the 20th century are summarized in the 1912 writings of André Vera. Le Nouveau style, published in the journal L'Art décoratif, expressed the rejection of Art Nouveau forms (asymmetric, polychrome and picturesque) and called for simplicité volontaire, symétrie manifeste, l'ordre et l'harmonie, themes that would eventually become ubiquitous within the context of Art Deco.
Art Deco also influenced, and was influenced by, fashion. Paul Iribe created for the couturier Paul Poiret fashion designs that shocked the Parisian milieu with its novelty. These illustrations were compiled into an album, Les Robes de Paul Poiret racontée par Paul Iribe, published in 1908.
Architecture
Between 1910 and 1913, Paris saw the construction of the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, 15 avenue Montaigne, The rigorous composition of its facade, designed by Auguste Perret, is a major example of early Art Deco. The building includes exterior bas reliefs by Antoine Bourdelle, a dome by Maurice Denis, paintings by Édouard Vuillard and Jacqueline Marval, and a stage curtain design by Ker-Xavier Roussel. It took its inspiration from classical architecture, and featured straight lines, geometric forms, and decoration in the form of sculptured plaques attached to the exterior.
Another important figure of early French art deco architecture was Henri Sauvage, who switched from art nouveau to art deco in designing the Majorelle building in Paris for furniture designer Louis Majorelle (1912–1914); the studio building in 1926–28; the Gambetta Palace movie theater in 1920, and a new facade for the La Samaritaine department store (1925–28).
By the 1930s the style had become much more flamboyant, and added much more decoration on the facade. It was particularly popular for movie theaters, such as the Grand Rex in Paris (1932), and Radio City Music Hall in New York City; and in the decoration of skyscrapers.
The art deco style was not limited to buildings on land; the ocean liner SS Normandie, whose first voyage was in 1935, featured art deco design, including a dining room whose ceiling and decoration was made of glass by Lalique.
Sculpture
Sculptural decoration was an important element in Art Deco architecture from the beginning, and made it distinct from modernism. It was usually not built into the structure, but attached to the outside, in marble or stucco plaques. It was often used in government buildings in the United States, celebrating various professions and the common man. Sculptures by Antoine Bourdelle were the essential decorative feature of the earliest art deco building, the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris, in 1912. In the later part of the Art Deco period, in the 1930s, sculptural decoration of buildings like Rockefeller Center was much more colorful and elaborate, in sharp contrast with modernist architecture.
Not all Art Deco sculpture was attached to buildings; perhaps the best-known work (and the largest) Art Deco sculpture is the Christ the Redeemer by the French sculptor Paul Landowski, completed between 1922 and 1931, located on a mountain top overlooking Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Interior design and furniture
Art Deco interior design followed the same principles of straight lines, geometric forms, and lavish decoration, which set it apart from the curved lines of the Art Nouveau and the strict functionality of the modernist style. An art deco office for a French Ambassador, designed by Pierre Charlau for the 1925 Paris Exposition of Decorative Arts, is on display at the Museum of Decorative Arts, next to the Louvre, in Paris.
The most famous designer of art deco furniture was Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann, whose Paris produced works that were simple in form but lavishly decorated, using fine woods and inlays.
In 1927, Cubists Joseph Csaky, Jacques Lipchitz, Louis Marcoussis, Henri Laurens, the sculptor Gustave Miklos, and others collaborated in the decoration of a Studio House, rue Saint-James, Neuilly-sur-Seine, designed by the architect Paul Ruaud and owned by the French fashion designer Jacques Doucet, also a collector of Post-Impressionist and Cubist paintings (including Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, which he bought directly from Picasso's studio). Laurens designed the fountain, Csaky designed Doucet's staircase, Lipchitz made the fireplace mantel, and Marcoussis made a Cubist rug.
Streamline Modern and the ocean liner style
Streamline Moderne (or Streamline) was a variety of Art Deco which emerged during the mid-1930s. It was influenced by modern aerodynamic principles developed for aviation and ballistics to reduce air friction at high velocities. the bullet shapes were applied by designers to cars, trains, ships, and even objects not intended to move, such as refrigerators, gas pumps, and buildings. One of the first production vehicles in this style was the Chrysler Airflow of 1933. It was unsuccessful commercially, but the beauty and functionality of its design set a precedent; streamline moderne meant modernity. It continued to be used in car design well after World War II.
Ocean liners also adopted a style of Art Deco, known in French as the Stylequeboat, or "Ocean Liner Style". The most famous example was the SS Normandie, which made its first transatlantic trip in 1935. It was designed particularly to bring wealthy Americans to Paris to shop. It's cabins and salons featured the latest Art Deco furnishings and decoration. The Grand Salon of the ship, which was the restaurant for first-class passengers, was bigger the Hall of Mirrors of the Palace of Versailles. It was illuminated by electric lights within twelve pillars of Lalique crystal; thirty-six matching pillars lined the walls. This was one of the earliest examples of illumination being directly integrated into architecture. The ship became so famous that the style was adapted to buildings. A notable example is found on the San Francisco waterfront, where the Maritime Museum building, built in 1937, building resembles a ferryboat, with ship railings and rounded corners. The Star Ferry Terminal in Hong Kong also used a variation of the style.
Influence
Art Deco was a globally popular style and affected many areas of design. It was used widely in consumer products such as automobiles, furniture, cookware, china, textiles, jewelry, clocks, and electronic items such as radios, telephones, and jukeboxes. It also influenced architecture, interior design, industrial design, fashion, graphic arts, and cinema.
During the 1930s, Art Deco was used extensively for public works projects, railway stations, ocean liners (including the Île de France, Queen Mary, and Normandie), movie palaces, and amusement parks.
The austerities imposed by World War II caused Art Deco to decline in popularity: it was perceived by some as gaudy and inappropriately luxurious. A resurgence of interest began during the 1960s. Deco continues to inspire designers and is often used in contemporary fashion, jewelry, and toiletries.
Surviving examples Africa
During Portuguese colonial rule in Angola and Mozambique, a large number of buildings were erected especially in the capital cities of Luanda and Maputo.
Africa's most celebrated examples of Art Deco were built in Eritrea during Italian rule. Many buildings survive in Asmara, the capital, and elsewhere.
There are a few Art Deco buildings in Egypt, one of the most famous being the former Cadillac dealership in downtown Cairo and Casa d'Italia in Port Said (1936)—designed by the Italian architect Clemente Busiri Vici.
Also, there are many buildings in downtown Casablanca, Morocco's economic capital.
Cities in South Africa also contain examples of Art Deco design such as the City Hall, in Benoni, Gauteng, constructed in 1937.
Asia
In Bangladesh, a number of Art Deco structures are found in Chittagong and Rajshahi. Built during the 1950s, they include the University of Rajshahi, the Chittagong Customs House and the Jamuna Bhaban among others.
In China, at least 60 buildings, of which many are Art Deco, designed by Hungarian architect László Hudec survive in downtown Shanghai.
There are a few Art Deco survivors in Hong Kong, (The Peninsula Hong Kong 1928, Bank of China Building (Hong Kong) 1952) with high-profile buildings demolished to make way for the modern skylines (HSBC Building 1935, demolished 1978). Residential buildings in Hong Kong Island and Kowloon used basic Art Deco theme at a much smaller scale. The Star Ferry Pier, Central and Tsim Sha Tsui Ferry Pier (both built 1957 and former demolished 2006) were both Streamline Moderne with some Art Deco elements.
In Indonesia, the largest stock of Dutch East Indies-era buildings is found in the large cities of Java. Bandung has one of the largest remaining collections of 1920s Art Deco buildings in the world, including those by several Dutch architects and planners, notably Albert Aalbers's DENIS bank (1936) in Braga Street and the renovated Savoy Homann Hotel (1939). Others were Thomas Karsten, Henri Maclaine Pont, J Gerber and C.P.W. Schoemaker. The Sociëteit Concordia (now Merdeka Building) is a historic building in Bandung designed by Van Galen Last and C.P. Wolff Schoemaker. In Jakarta, surviving Art Deco buildings include the Nederlandsche Handel Maatschappij building (1929), now the Museum Bank Mandiri, by J. de Bruyn, A. P. Smiths, and C. Van de Linde; the Jakarta Kota Station (1929) designed by Frans Johan Louwrens Ghijsels, and the Metropole Cinema in Menteng.
In Japan, the 1933 residence of Prince Asaka in Tokyo is an Art Deco house turned museum.
Examples of Art Deco architecture in Malaysia include the Central Market, the Coliseum Theatre, the Odeon Cinema and the Lee Rubber Building in Kuala Lumpur, and the Standard Chartered Building, India House, and the OCBC Bank Building in George Town, Penang.
Mumbai has the second largest number of Art Deco buildings after Miami. The Art Deco style was also adopted in Chennai where the first art deco building - the Oriental Insurance was completed in 1935. Other art deco buildings in the city are the Taj Connemara hotel (1937) and Dare House, the headquarters of EID Parry (1939).
In the Philippines, Art Deco buildings are found mostly in Manila, Baguio, Iloilo City, Quezon City, and Sariaya. The best surviving examples in Manila include Far Eastern University's Nicanor Hall (as well as the distinct lettering design of the university's name), the three surviving Art Deco standalone movie houses, and the Manila Metropolitan Theater.
Central and South America
In Argentina, architect Alejandro Virasoro introduced Art Deco in 1926 and developed the use of reinforced concrete, with the Banco El Hogar Argentino and the Casa del Teatro (both in Buenos Aires) being his most important works. The Kavanagh building (1934), by Sánchez, Lagos and de la Torre, was the tallest reinforced concrete structure at its time, and a notable example of late Art Deco style. In the Buenos Aires Province, architect Francisco Salamone designed cemetery portals, city halls and slaughterhouses commissioned by the provincial government in the 1930s; his designs combined Art Deco with futurism.
Another country with many examples of Art Deco architecture is Brazil, especially in Porto Alegre, Goiânia and cities like Cipó (Bahia), Iraí (Rio Grande do Sul) and Rio de Janeiro, especially in Copacabana (see Belmond Copacabana Palace). Also in the Brazil's north-east – notably in cities such as Campina Grande in the state of Paraíba – there are Art Deco buildings which have been termed "Sertanejo Art Deco" because of their peculiar architectural features. The reason for the style being so widespread in Brazil is its coincidence with the fast growth and radical economic changes of the country during the 1930s.
In Santiago, Chile, the Hotel Carrera (no longer a hotel) is a good example of Art Deco architecture.
Art deco buildings are also numerous in Montevideo, Uruguay, including the Palacio Salvo, which was South America's tallest building when it was built in the late 1920s.
Cuba
Some of the finest examples of Art Deco art and architecture are found in Cuba, especially in Havana. The Bacardi Building is noted for its particular Art Deco style. The style is expressed by the architecture of residences, businesses, hotels, and many pieces of decorative art, furniture, and utensils in public buildings, as well as in private homes.
Europe France
Notable art deco buildings in Paris today include the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées by Auguste Perret (1910–13), the Majorielle building (1911), the MK-2 Gambetta movie theater at 4 rue Belgrand, Paris, (1920), the Studio building (1926–28), and La Samaritaine department store facade (1926–28), by Henri Sauvage; the Palais de Tokyo, constructed for the 1937 Paris Universal Exposition, now the museum of modern art of the City of Paris; and the Grand Rex movie theater (1932).
Belgium
One of the largest Art Deco buildings in Western Europe is the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Koekelberg, Brussels. In 1925, architect Albert van Huffel won the Grand Prize for Architecture with his scale model of the basilica at the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris.
Another prominent Art Deco landmark in Brussels is the 1938-built former National Radio Institute of Belgium, more commonly known as the Flagey building after its location. The architect was Joseph Diongre, whose design incorporated many features based on then-recent research work in studio acoustics.
The Brussels Central station, a late work of architect Victor Horta, also has many Art Deco elements, although Horta has become better known for his earlier Art Nouveau work.
The Brussels municipality of Forest has two prominent examples of Art Deco architecture: the municipal building or town hall, completed in 1938 (architect Jean-Baptiste Dewin), and the Saint Augustine church, built on a prominent height called Altitude 100, designed by the architects Léon Guiannotte and André Watteyne and completed in 1950.
To replace the original peace memorial destroyed in 1946, the Ijzertoren at Diksmuide was rebuilt in Art Deco style from 1950 to 1956 according to plans by architect Robert Van Averbeke. The 84-meters tall memorial is thus a rare example of Belgian Art Deco architecture outside Brussels.
Germany
In Germany two variations of Art Deco flourished in the 1920s and 30s: The Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) employed the same curving horizontal lines and nautical motifs that are known as Streamline Moderne in the Anglophone world. While Neue Sachlichkeit was rather austere and reduced (eventually merging with the Bauhaus style), Expressionist architecture came up with a more emotional use of shapes, colors and textures, partly reinterpreting shapes from the German and Baltic Brick Gothic style. Notable examples are Erich Mendelsohn's Mossehaus and Schaubühne theater in Berlin, Fritz Höger's Chilehaus in Hamburg and his Kirche am Hohenzollernplatz in Berlin, the Anzeiger Tower in Hannover and the Borsig Tower in Berlin. Art deco architecture was revived in the late-20th century by architects like Hans Kollhoff (see his tower on Potsdamer Platz), Jan Kleihues and Tobias Nöfer.
The 1921 Mossehaus in Berlin by Erich Mendelsohn was a pioneering design in Art Deco and Streamline Moderne, that displays how the Deco style spread and evolved in Europe.
Greece
Art Deco in Athens incorporated insolently many of the structural and formal characteristics of the Classical idiom, at times transforming them to mere decorative elements, or oppositely, imprinting to them a functionality. Thematically it moved beyond the Classical period and looked for its models in the Mycenaean, Archaic, Hellenistic and Byzantine arts. The classicizing trends however, as one would expect in the city of Parthenon, held strongly, and despite what it has been sometimes suggested, Art Deco was never really independent in Athens. Rather, it accommodated itself in the midst of a strong and ideologically charged classicizing tradition and produced some of the most original and less expected works of the Greek architectural heritage.
Lithuania
Like Romania, Lithuania too experienced booming industrial growth during the Interwar period. This resulted in the rapid modernization of the city of Kaunas in particular. At this time it became the temporary capital of Lithuania. Vytautas the Great War Museum, built in 1936 and located in downtown Kaunas, along with the Central Post Building and the Pienocentras HQ Building (1934) are the three most prominent Art Deco structures in the city. Today many of these buildings still stand, and apartment complexes and large government buildings alike survive from this time, even through the Nazi and Soviet occupations of Kaunas. Many other buildings around the city were built in the Bauhaus style.
Malta
Several Art Deco buildings were constructed in Malta in the 1930s and 1950s. Surviving examples include the Orpheum Theatre and the Muscats Motors showroom in Gżira, the Rialto Cinema in Cospicua, the Hotel Phoenicia in Floriana, as well as several other cinemas, villas and other buildings.
Norway
An example of Art Deco in Norway is found in the Student Society in Trondheim (built 1927–29). Its interior is based on an abandoned circus, so that the exterior exhibits a characteristic round shape.
Romania
As a result of the inter-war period of rapid development, cities in Romania have numerous Art Deco buildings, including government buildings, hotels, and private houses. The best representative in this regard is the capital, Bucharest, which, despite the widespread destruction of its architecture during Communist times, still has many Art Deco examples, both on its main boulevards and in the lesser known parts of the city.
Constanta has the second number of Art Deco buildings after Bucharest.
Ploieşti also has many Art Deco houses.
Russia
Art Deco made a huge impact to an early Soviet architecture. For instance best known Seven Sisters in Moscow were inspired by the US skyscrapers Chrysler Building and Empire State Building. There are also some stations in Moscow Metro in Art Deco style.
The Art Deco Museum in Moscow represents one of the largest collections of art deco end art nouveau objects in Russia. The collection includes more than 800 sculptures in bronze and ivory of the 1920s and 30s, more than 500 items of furniture, as well as a significant number of objects of decorative and applied arts and graphics.
Spain
Valencia was built profusely in Art Deco style during the period of economic bounty between wars in which Spain remained neutral. Particularly remarkable are the famous bath house Las Arenas, the building hosting the rectorship of the University of Valencia, and the cinemas Rialto (currently the Filmoteca de la Generalitat Valenciana) and Capitol (reconverted into an office building).
United Kingdom
During the 1930s, Art Deco had a noticeable effect on house design in the United Kingdom, as well as the design of various public buildings. Straight, white-rendered house frontages rising to flat roofs, sharply geometric door surrounds and tall windows, as well as convex-curved metal corner windows, were all characteristic of that period.
The London Underground is famous for many examples of Art Deco architecture, and there are a number of buildings in the style situated along the Golden Mile in Brentford. Also in West London is the Hoover Building, which was originally built for The Hoover Company and was converted into a superstore in the early 1990s.
The former Arsenal Stadium has the famous East Stand facade. It remains at the Arsenal football club's old home at Highbury, London Borough of Islington, which was vacated in the summer of 2006. Opened in October 1936, the structure now has Grade II listed status and has been converted into apartments. William Bennie, the organizer of the project, famously used the Art Deco style in the final design which was considered one of the most opulent and impressive stands of world football.
Du Cane Court, in Balham, south-west London, is a good example of the Art Deco style. It was thought to be possibly the largest block of privately owned apartments under one roof in Britain at the time it was built, and the first to employ pre-stressed concrete. It has a grand reception area and is surrounded by Japanese-style gardens; and it has had many famous residents, especially from the performing arts. Elsewhere in south-west London, is Battersea Power Station, which has appeared in films and artwork including the cover of Pink Floyd's 1977 album Animals. Partially built in the 1930s, the building retains its powerful Art Deco facade. In the middle of Lambeth is the Sunlight Laundry, one of the few surviving Art Deco buildings which is still owned by the commissioning firm and still used for its original purpose.
In North East England, the Wills Building, an old cigarette factory, is a fine Art Deco building built in the late 1940s in Newcastle upon Tyne.
In North West England, the Midland Hotel, Morecambe is considered one of the finest surviving examples from this period, with sculptures by artist Eric Gill. The buildings and structures related to the Queensway Tunnel which connects Liverpool and Birkenhead are also distinctly Art Deco. Other notable Art Deco buildings in Liverpool include Philharmonic Hall and the former terminal building at Liverpool Airport—now the Crowne Plaza LJLA. See Art Deco architecture in Liverpool.
In Yorkshire, Leeds Central Station and the adjoining Queens Hotel are both major examples of Art Deco buildings which have been preserved for 21st century usage.
The City Hall in Norwich is a fine example of the Art Deco style. It has a 206 ft clock tower and the balcony is the longest in the UK at 365 ft long.
North America Canada
In Canada Art Deco structures that survive are mainly in urban centres like Montreal, Toronto, Hamilton, Ontario, and Vancouver. They range from public buildings like Vancouver City Hall to commercial buildings (College Park) to public works (R. C. Harris Water Treatment Plant).
Hamilton boasts a collection of Art Deco buildings. The Hamilton GO Centre, the Pigott Building, an 18-storey condominium (1929), The Sunlife Building, The Bell Telephone Baker Exchange, Dominion Public Building refurbished into the John Sopinka Courthouse (1936), and The Hamilton Port Authority (1953).
In Montréal, the Salle Ernest Cormier at Université de Montréal is considered an example of the Art Deco style. Additionally the Aldred Building is in the style.
In Quebec City, the Édifice Price is in Art Deco style.
Toronto hosts some Art Deco buildings including: Maple Leaf Gardens (1931), Automotive Building (1929), Princes' Gates (1927), Royal Ontario Museum (1933 east wing), Exhibition Place Bandshell, Tip Top Tailors Building (1929), Toronto East General Hospital (1929), Toronto Coach Terminal (1931), Metro Theatre (Toronto) (1938), Canada Permanent Trust Building (1930), Hart House Theatre (1919), Bloor Collegiate Institute (1920), Arcadian Court (1929), Balfour Building (1930)
Mexico
In Mexico City, art deco residential buildings abound in the chic Condesa neighborhood, many designed by Francisco J. Serrano. The interior of the Palacio de Bellas Artes is a fine example. Another is the Edificio El Moro which has the Loteria Nacional nowadays. It was also the biggest building of Mexico City at the time it was completed.
United States
The U.S. has many examples of Art Deco architecture. Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York have many Art Deco buildings. The famous skyscrapers are the best-known, but notable Art Deco buildings can be found in various neighborhoods. Art deco was popular during the later years of the movie palace era of theatre construction. Excellent examples of Art Deco theatres still exist throughout the United States, such as the Fargo Theatre in Fargo, North Dakota, and The Campus Theatre in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.
In 2005, work began on the conversion of the former Jersey City Medical Center in Beacon, Jersey City, now a national historic site, to a residential enclave. The development is situated on and hosts the largest collection of Art Deco buildings in New Jersey.
In Beaumont, Texas, the First National Bank Building, Jefferson County Courthouse, and Kyle Building are some of the few Art Deco buildings still in the city.
The Cincinnati Union Terminal occupies an Art Deco-style passenger railroad station that began operation in 1933. Its semi-dome is the largest in the Western Hemisphere, measuring wide and high. After the decline of railroad travel, most of the building was converted to other uses, and is now the Cincinnati Museum Center. It serves more than one million visitors per year and is the 17th most visited museum in the United States. Cincinnati is also home to the Carew Tower, a 49-story Art Deco skyscraper finished in 1931.
The Cinema Theater in Rochester, New York was renovated and had an Art Deco style facade installed in 1949.
Fair Park in Dallas contains a large collection of Art Deco buildings, art, and sculpture. Fair Park was built for the 1936 World's Fair, also known as the Texas Centennial Exposition, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Texas. The park is 277 acres and is the last surviving pre-1950 World's Fair site. Fair Park hosts the annual State Fair of Texas, the largest state fair in the United States.
Detroit's many examples of Art Deco architecture include the Fisher Building, Fox Theatre, and Guardian Building, all of which are now National Historic Landmarks, as well as the David Stott and Penobscot Buildings.
Flint, Michigan is home to The Paterson Building which has extensive Art Deco features throughout the interior and exterior.
The Hoover Dam features Art Deco motifs throughout, including its concrete water intake towers and brass elevator doors.
Houston's Deco survivors include the Houston City Hall, the JPMorgan Chase Building, Ezekiel W. Cullen Building, and the 1940 Air Terminal Museum.
Kansas City, Missouri is home to the Kansas City Power and Light Building, completed in 1931. This building is a good example of the Great Depression's effect on Art Deco construction. Original plans were for a twin tower to go next to it on its west side. However, it was never built due to financial constraints. As a result, the tower has a bare west side with no windows. Other examples of Deco in Kansas City include the 909 Walnut, the Jackson County Courthouse, Kansas City City Hall, and the Municipal Auditorium.
The recently opened Smith Center in Downtown Las Vegas incorporates many design elements from Hoover Dam and, therefore, is a contemporary example of the use of Art Deco style.
Los Angeles' Art Deco architecture is particularly found along Wilshire Boulevard, a main thoroughfare that experienced a period of intense construction activity during the 1920s. Notable examples include the Bullocks Wilshire building and the Pellissier Building and Wiltern Theatre, built in 1929 and 1931 respectively. Both buildings experienced recent restoration.
Miami Beach, Florida has a large collection of Art Deco buildings, with some 30 blocks of hotels and apartment houses dating from the 1920s to the 1940s. In 1979, the Miami Beach Architectural District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Nearly all the buildings have been restored.
Milwaukee is home to the Wisconsin Gas Building, a classic stepped Art Deco design completed in 1930, which replaced a Prohibition-era speakeasy formally on the site. Another prime example of Art Deco architecture, the Wisconsin Tower, was completed that same year.
Minneapolis has the Foshay Tower which was finished in 1929, built immediately before the Great Depression. It is the only obelisk-shaped office building in the world. Minneapolis also has the Rand Tower, the CenturyLink Building, the Minneapolis Post Office, and the Wells Fargo Center, an example of modern Art Deco architecture.
New York's borough of the Bronx has several Art Deco buildings in the Grand Concourse, including the Bronx County Courthouse, 888 Grand Concourse, designed by Emery Roth, and 1150 Grand Concourse, the "Fish Building."
Rochester, Minnesota has the Plummer Building from 1927, the original building for the world-famous Mayo Clinic.
San Francisco, California examples include the Golden Gate Bridge, 450 Sutter Street, the Shell Building, Coit Tower, the Pacific Telephone Building, and the Russ Building.
St. Paul, Minnesota is home to the First National Bank Building and the Saint Paul City Hall.
The Guadalupe County Courthouse and the nearby Municipal Building in Seguin, Texas show successful use of the style in public buildings erected as make-work projects in small towns during the New Deal.
Syracuse, New York is home to the Niagara Mohawk Building, completed in 1932 and listed as a National Historic Landmark. Niagara Mohawk was considered at the time to be the nation's most powerful electricity supplier; thus, the building emphasized a vast futuristic look with an electric style embedded into it.
Much of the Art Deco heritage of Tulsa, Oklahoma remains from that city's oil boom days.
Cleveland's Hope Memorial Bridge is noted for its four Berea sandstone pylons sculpted with colossal figures of "Guardians of Traffic" by Henry Hering. The bridge is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Oceania Australia
List of Art Deco buildings in Sydney List of Art Deco buildings in Melbourne List of Art Deco buildings in Tasmania List of Art Deco buildings in Perth
Australia also has many surviving examples of Art Deco architecture. Among the most notable are:
The Manchester Unity Building (Melbourne) features purely decorative towers to circumvent the height restriction laws of the time, and the former Russell Street Police Headquarters in Melbourne, with its main multi-storey brick building designed by architect Percy Edgar Everett, is reminiscent of the design of the Empire State Building.
In St Kilda, Victoria, the Palais and the Astor theatres are considered some of the finest surviving Art Deco buildings in Australia, while many rural towns such as Wagga Wagga, Innisfail, Albury and Griffith also have significant amounts of Art Deco buildings and homes.
Sydney's ANZAC War Memorial and "mini-skyscrapers", such as the Grace Building (Sydney) and the AWA Tower in Sydney, which consists of a radio transmission tower atop a 15-story building.
Sydney has a large number of surviving Art Deco houses, particularly in its inner suburbs.
New Zealand
Hastings, New Zealand was also rebuilt in Art Deco style after the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake, and many fine Art Deco buildings survive.
The city of Napier, New Zealand, was rebuilt in the Art Deco style after being largely razed by the Hawke's Bay earthquake of 3 February 1931 and is the world's most consistently Art Deco city. Although a few Art Deco buildings were replaced with contemporary structures during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, most of the centre remained intact long enough to become recognized as architecturally unique, and from the 1990s onwards had been protected and restored. As of 2007, Napier has been nominated for UNESCO World Heritage Site status, the first cultural site in New Zealand to be nominated. According to the World Heritage Trust, when Napier is compared to the other cites noted for their Art Deco architecture, such as Miami Beach, Santa Barbara, Bandung in Indonesia (planned originally as the future capital of Java), and Asmara in Eritrea (built by the Italians as a model colonial city), "none ... surpass Napier in style and coherence.
Wellington has retained a sizeable number of Art Deco buildings, in spite of constant post-World War II development.
Gallery
Antoine Bourdelle, 1910-12, Apollon et sa méditation entourée des 9 muses (The Meditation of Apollon and the Muses), bas-relief, Théâtre des Champs Elysées DSC09313.jpg Antoine Bourdelle, 1910–12, Apollon et sa méditation entourée des 9 muses (The Meditation of Apollo and the Muses), bas-relief, Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris. This work represents one of the earliest examples of what became known as Art Deco sculpture
See also
Art Deco Jewelry estate jewelry
1933 Chicago World's Fair Century of Progress
Clockarium
1936 Fair Park built for Texas Centennial Exposition
Art Deco stamps International style
List of Art Deco architecture
Paris architecture of the Belle Époque
Paris between the Wars (1919-1939)
Henri Sauvage
Socialist realism, the Soviet version of Art Deco architecture.
References Bibliography
Art Deco Architecture: Design, Decoration and Detail from the Twenties and Thirties
American Art Deco: Modernistic Architecture and Regionalism
Art Deco Complete: The Definitive Guide to the Decorative Arts of the 1920s and 1930s
Paul T. Frankl and Modern American Design
Bibliographical Society of The University of Virginia
Art Deco Sculpture: From Root to Flourishing (vol.1,2)
Paris architectures de la Belle Epoque
1000 Immeubles et monuments de Paris
Art Deco in Detroit (Images of America)
A History of Du Cane Court: Land, Architecture, People and Politics
External links
Art Deco -Historic Places in Canada
Art Deco Brazilian Northeast
Art Deco Chicago
Art Deco Miami Beach Photos
Art Deco Montreal
Art Deco Napier, New Zealand
Art Deco Gallery – bronze and ivory sculpture
Art Deco Sydney, Australia
Art Deco Society, Victoria, Australia
Art Deco Society of Western Australia
Art Deco Society of Washington
Art Deco Society of California
Illustrations: The Art Deco Book in France
Durban Deco Directory: South Africa
Tulsa, Oklahoma Art Deco Heritage
Victoria and Albert Museum Art Deco
Art Deco buildings in North Carolina
Pictures of the Paterson Building
Reims (France), Art deco
Map of Art Deco buildings in London
Art Deco in Athens, photo gallery
Art Deco Rio de Janeiro, includes photos and map of the buildings
Shanghai (China), Art Deco
Art Deco Museum in Moscow |
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