Moderne architecture, also sometimes referred to as Style Moderne or simply Moderne, Jazz Age, Moderne, jazz modern or jazz style, describes certain styles of

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings ...

popular from 1925 through the 1940s. closely allied to

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unit ...

. Originating in the

International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts The International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts (french: Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes) was a World's fair held in Paris, France, from April to October 1925. It was designed by the Fren ...

held in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

in 1925, the style has expression in styles traditionally classified as Art Deco,

Streamline Moderne Streamline Moderne is an international style of Art Deco architecture and design that emerged in the 1930s. Inspired by aerodynamic design, it emphasized curving forms, long horizontal lines, and sometimes nautical elements. In industrial desig ...

, Late Moderne, and, in the U.S., PWA/WPA Moderne. Architectural historian

Richard Guy Wilson Richard Guy Wilson (born 1940) is a noted architectural historian and Commonwealth Professor in Architectural History at the University of Virginia. Wilson was born and raised in Los Angeles (residing in a house designed by Rudolph Schindler). H ...

characterized the style by the eclectic co-existence of "traditionalism and modernism".

United States

The Moderne style of architecture appears as a descriptor in documentation of many buildings listed by the United States of America's

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

Streamline Moderne

Some Moderne architecture may be classified as Streamline Moderne, an evolution of Art Deco architecture which peaked in popularity . This can refer to land-based architecture, such as the Normandie Hotel in

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the ...

, which show curved, shiplike forms and styling. This follows the water-based adaptation of Art Deco decorative style and architecture to passenger ships, such as the SS ''Normandie''. Other Streamline Moderne architecture does not reflect any maritime-oriented themes.

References

National Register of Historic Places architecture categories Art Deco architecture in the United States M American architectural styles {{Arch-style-stub