Art Deco in the United States
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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 Unite ...
style, which originated in France just before
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, had an important impact on architecture and design in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s. The most famous examples are the skyscrapers of
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
including the Empire State Building,
Chrysler Building The Chrysler Building is an Art Deco skyscraper on the East Side of Manhattan in New York City, at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. At , it is the tallest brick building in the world with a steel fra ...
, and
Rockefeller Center Rockefeller Center is a large complex consisting of 19 commercial buildings covering between 48th Street and 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The 14 original Art Deco buildings, commissioned by the Rockefeller family, span th ...
. It combined modern aesthetics, fine craftsmanship and expensive materials, and became the symbol of luxury and modernity. While rarely used in residences, it was frequently used for office buildings, government buildings, train stations, movie theaters, diners and department stores. It also was frequently used in furniture, and in the design of automobiles, ocean liners, and everyday objects such as toasters and radio sets. In the late 1930s, during the Great Depression, it featured prominently in the architecture of the immense public works projects sponsored by the
Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...
and the Public Works Administration, such as the Golden Gate Bridge and Hoover Dam. The style competed throughout the period with the
modernist architecture Modern architecture, or modernist architecture, was an architectural movement or architectural style based upon new and innovative technologies of construction, particularly the use of glass, steel, and reinforced concrete; the idea that form ...
, and came to an abrupt end in 1939 with the beginning of World War II. The style was rediscovered in the 1960s, and many of the original buildings have been restored and are now historical landmarks.


Architecture


Skyscrapers

File:New York City Chrysler Building 02.jpg, Radiator ornament decoration on the
Chrysler Building The Chrysler Building is an Art Deco skyscraper on the East Side of Manhattan in New York City, at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. At , it is the tallest brick building in the world with a steel fra ...
, New York City (1928) File:Empire State Building by David Shankbone.jpg, The Empire State Building, New York City (1931) File:570 Lexington Avenue2.JPG, Crown of the RCA Victor Building (now the
General Electric Building The General Electric Building (also known as 570 Lexington Avenue) is a skyscraper at the southwestern corner of Lexington Avenue and 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building, designed by Cross & Cross and completed in 1 ...
), New York City (1930–31) File:Fisherbldgentrancesculpture crop.jpg, Entrance of the
Fisher Building The Fisher Building is a landmark skyscraper located at 3011 West Grand Boulevard in the heart of the New Center area of Detroit, Michigan. The ornate 30-story building, completed in 1928, is one of the major works of architect Albert Kahn, and ...
, Detroit, Michigan (1928) File:Fisher Building Lobby (4634810509).jpg, Lobby of the
Fisher Building The Fisher Building is a landmark skyscraper located at 3011 West Grand Boulevard in the heart of the New Center area of Detroit, Michigan. The ornate 30-story building, completed in 1928, is one of the major works of architect Albert Kahn, and ...
, Detroit, Michigan, (1928) File:Cbot-close-night.jpg,
Chicago Board of Trade Building The Chicago Board of Trade Building is a 44-story, Art Deco skyscraper located in the Chicago Loop, standing at the foot of the LaSalle Street canyon. Built in 1930 for the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), it has served as the primary trading v ...
, Chicago, Illinois (1930) File:Bryant Park Hotel in NYC IMG 1242.JPG, The
American Radiator Building The American Radiator Building (also known as the American Standard Building) is an early skyscraper at 40 West 40th Street, just south of Bryant Park, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It was designed by Raymond Hood an ...
, New York City by
Raymond Hood Raymond Mathewson Hood (March 29, 1881 – August 14, 1934) was an American architect who worked in the Neo-Gothic and Art Deco styles. He is best known for his designs of the Tribune Tower, American Radiator Building, and Rockefeller Center. Th ...
(1924) File:Buffalo City Hall, Buffalo, NY - IMG 3740.JPG,
Buffalo City Hall Buffalo City Hall is the city hall, seat for municipal government in the Buffalo, New York, City of Buffalo, New York (state), New York. Located at 65 Niagara Square, the 32-story Art Deco building was completed in 1931 by Dietel, Wade & Jones. ...
, Buffalo, New York, Dietel, Wade & Jones, 1931 File:Plummer From 14Floor of Gonda BLDG.jpg,
Plummer Building The Plummer Building in Rochester, Minnesota, is one of the many architecturally significant buildings on the Mayo Clinic campus. This new "Mayo Clinic" building, opened in 1928, added much needed space to the ever-expanding Mayo practice. The ...
, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota (1928) File:LeVeque Tower, Columbus, OH, US crop.jpg,
LeVeque Tower The LeVeque Tower is a 47-story skyscraper in Downtown Columbus, Ohio. At it was the tallest building in the city from its completion in 1927 to 1974, and remains the second-tallest today. Designed by C. Howard Crane, the Art Deco skyscraper ...
, Columbus, Ohio (1924) File:Los Angeles City Hall (color) edit1.jpg, City Hall of
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
, California (1928)
The Art Deco style had been born in Paris, but no buildings were permitted in that city which were higher than Notre Dame Cathedral (with the sole exception of the
Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower ( ; french: links=yes, tour Eiffel ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower. Locally nicknamed "' ...
). As a result, the United States soon took the lead in building tall buildings. The first skyscrapers had been built in Chicago in the 1880s in the Beaux-Arts or neoclassical style. In the 1920s, New York architects used the new Art Deco style to build the
Chrysler Building The Chrysler Building is an Art Deco skyscraper on the East Side of Manhattan in New York City, at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. At , it is the tallest brick building in the world with a steel fra ...
and the Empire State Building. The Empire State building was the tallest building in the world for forty years. The decoration of the interior and exterior of the skyscrapers was classic Art Deco, with geometric shapes and zigzag patterns. The Chrysler Building, by William Van Alen (1928–30), updated the traditional gargoyles on
Gothic cathedrals Gothic cathedrals and churches are religious buildings created in Europe between the mid-12th century and the beginning of the 16th century. The cathedrals are notable particularly for their great height and their extensive use of stained glass ...
with sculptures on the building corners in the shape of Chrysler radiator ornaments. Another major landmark of the style was the RCA Victor Building (now the General Electric Building), by
John Walter Cross Cross & Cross (1907–1942) was a New York City-based architectural firm founded by brothers John Walter Cross and Eliot Cross. History Cross & Cross was known as Old New York City Society's architectural firm of choice. John Cross (1878–1951) s ...
. It was covered from top to bottom with zig-zags and geometric patterns, and had a highly ornamental crown with geometric spires and lightning bolts of stone. The exterior featured bas-relief sculptures by
Leo Friedlander Leo Friedlander (July 6, 1888 – October 24, 1966) was an American sculptor, who has made several prominent works. Friedlander studied at the Art Students League in New York City, the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Brussels and Paris, and the America ...
and Lee Lawrie, and a mosaic by
Barry Faulkner Barry Faulkner (full name: Francis Barrett Faulkner; July 12, 1881 – October 27, 1966) was an American artist primarily known for his murals. During World War I, he and sculptor Sherry Edmundson Fry organized artists for training as camouflage s ...
that required more than a million pieces of enamel and glass. While the skyscraper Art Deco style was mostly used for corporate office buildings, it also became popular for government buildings, since all city offices could be contained in one building on a minimal amount of land. The city halls of
Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
and
Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...
were built in the style, as well as the new capital building of the State of Louisiana.


Movie theaters

Oakland Paramount Theatre exterior, 1975.jpg,
Paramount Theatre (Oakland, California) The Paramount Theatre is a 3,040-seat Art Deco concert hall located at 2025 Broadway in Downtown Oakland. When it was built in 1931, it was the largest multi-purpose theater on the West Coast, seating 3,476. Today, the Paramount is the home of ...
by Timothy L. Pflueger (1932) File:Paramount Fountain of Light in Lobby.jpg, Four-story high grand lobby of the Paramount Theatre, Oakland (1932) File:Oakland Paramount facade mosaic detail 1.jpg, Paramount Theatre, Oakland; detail of the mosaic facade (1932) File:Radio City Music Hall 3051638324 4a385c5623.jpg, The stage of Radio City Music Hall in New York City (1932)
Another important genre of Art Deco buildings is the movie theater. The Art Deco period coincided with the birth of the talking motion picture, and the age of enormous and lavishly decorated movie theaters. Many of these movie theaters still survive, though many have been divided in the interior into smaller screening halls. Among the most famous examples are the Paramount Theatre in
Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...
, which had a four-story high grand lobby, entered through twenty-seven doors, and could seat 3,746 people. Radio City Music Hall, located within the skyscraper complex of
Rockefeller Center Rockefeller Center is a large complex consisting of 19 commercial buildings covering between 48th Street and 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The 14 original Art Deco buildings, commissioned by the Rockefeller family, span th ...
in New York City, was originally a theater for stage shows when it opened in 1932, but it quickly changed to the largest movie theater in the United States. It seats more than five thousand people, and still features a stage show of dancers. In the 1930s, the streamline style appeared in movie theaters in smaller cities. The movie theater in
Normal, Illinois Normal is a town in McLean County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town's population was 52,736. Normal is the smaller of two principal municipalities of the Bloomington–Normal metropolitan area, and Illinois' seventh most ...
(1937) is a classic surviving example.


Department stores and office buildings

File:Bullocks Wilshire.jpg,
Bullocks Wilshire Bullocks Wilshire, located at 3050 Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, California, is a Art Deco building. The building opened in September 1929 as a luxury department store for owner John G. Bullock (owner of the more mainstream Bullock's in Dow ...
, Los Angeles,
John and Donald Parkinson John and Donald Parkinson were a father-and-son architectural firm operating in the Los Angeles area in the early 20th century. They designed and built many of the city's iconic buildings, including Grand Central Market, the Memorial Colise ...
, 1929 File:Niagara Mohawk Bldg (Syracuse, NY).jpg, The facade of the Niagara Mohawk Building, in Syracuse, New York, (1932), a power utility company, features a statue of "The Spirit of Light" File:1exterior KCPL Bldg Kansas City MO.jpg, Detail of the
Kansas City Power and Light Building The Kansas City Power and Light Building (also called the KCP&L Building and the Power and Light Building) is a landmark skyscraper located in Downtown Kansas City, Missouri. It was constructed by Kansas City Power and Light in 1931 as a way to p ...
in Kansas City, Missouri (1931) File:Detroit December 2015 26 (Guardian Building).jpg, Interior of the
Guardian Building The Guardian Building is a landmark skyscraper in the United States, located at 500 Griswold Street in Downtown Detroit, Michigan, within the Financial District. The Guardian is a class-A office building owned by Wayne County, Michigan and ser ...
(originally the Union Trust Building) in
Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...
, Michigan (1928) File:450 Sutter St. lobby 1.JPG, Lobby of the
450 Sutter Street 450 Sutter Street, also called the Four Fifty Sutter Building, is a twenty-six-floor, 105-meter (344-foot) skyscraper in San Francisco, California, completed in 1929. The tower is known for its " Neo-Mayan" Art Deco design by architect Timothy L. ...
building in San Francisco, by Timothy L. Pflueger (1929)
Following the lead of the skyscrapers of New York City, smaller in scale but no less ambitious in design, Art Deco office buildings and department stores appeared in cities across the United States. They were rarely built by banks, which wanted to appear conservative, but were often built by retail chains, public utilities, automobile companies and technology companies, which wanted to express modernity and progress. Syracuse, New York is home to the Niagara Mohawk Building, in Syracuse, New York, completed in 1932. was originally the home of the nation's largest electricity supplier. The facade, by the firm of Bley and Lyman, was designed to express the power and modernity of electricity; it features a statue called "The Spirit of Light" 8.5 meters high, made of stainless steel, as the central element of the facade. The
Guardian Building The Guardian Building is a landmark skyscraper in the United States, located at 500 Griswold Street in Downtown Detroit, Michigan, within the Financial District. The Guardian is a class-A office building owned by Wayne County, Michigan and ser ...
, originally the Union Trust Building, is a rare example of a bank or financial institution using Art Deco. Its interior decoration was so elaborate that it became known as the "Cathedral of Commerce". The San Francisco architect Timothy L. Pflueger best known for the Paramount Theatre in Oakland, California, was another proponent of lavish Art Deco interiors and facades on office buildings. The interior of his downtown San Francisco office building,
450 Sutter Street 450 Sutter Street, also called the Four Fifty Sutter Building, is a twenty-six-floor, 105-meter (344-foot) skyscraper in San Francisco, California, completed in 1929. The tower is known for its " Neo-Mayan" Art Deco design by architect Timothy L. ...
, opened in 1929, was entirely covered with hieroglyphic-like designs and ornament, resembling a giant tapestry.


The Streamline style

File:Donald Deskey.Table Lamp, 1927-1931.jpg, Chrome-plated table lamp by Donald Deskey (1927-31) 1934ChryslerAirflow.jpg, Chrysler Airflow sedan, designed by Carl Breer (1934) File:NY Worlds' Fair streamlined Hudson LC-G613-T01-35339 DLC.jpg, Streamlined locomotive of the
New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Mid ...
(1939) Pan-Pacific Auditorium entrance.jpg, The
Pan-Pacific Auditorium The Pan-Pacific Auditorium was a landmark structure in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles, California. It once stood near the site of Gilmore Field, an early Los Angeles baseball venue predating Dodger Stadium. It was located within sight of ...
in Los Angeles (1935) File:SFMaritimeMuseum.jpg, The San Francisco Maritime Museum (1936)
Streamline Moderne (or Streamline) was a variety of Art Deco which emerged during the mid-1930s. The architectural style was more sober and less decorative than earlier Art Deco buildings, more in tune with the somber mood of the Great Depression. Buildings in the style often resembled land-bound ships, with rounded corners, long horizontal lines, iron railings, and sometimes nautical features. Notable examples include the San Francisco Maritime Museum (1936), originally built as a public bath house next to the beach, and the
Pan-Pacific Auditorium The Pan-Pacific Auditorium was a landmark structure in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles, California. It once stood near the site of Gilmore Field, an early Los Angeles baseball venue predating Dodger Stadium. It was located within sight of ...
in Los Angeles, built in 1935 and closed in 1978. It was declared a historic landmark, but it was destroyed by a fire in 1989. The style of decoration and industrial design was influenced by modern
aerodynamic Aerodynamics, from grc, ἀήρ ''aero'' (air) + grc, δυναμική (dynamics), is the study of the motion of air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dyn ...
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.


Train stations and airports

File:Suburban Station Facade.jpg, Suburban Station (1930) in Philadelphia, built by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) to serve as its headquarters, now functions as the primary
SEPTA Regional Rail The SEPTA Regional Rail system is a commuter rail network owned by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority and serving the Philadelphia Metropolitan area. The system has 13 branches and more than 150 active stations in Philadelp ...
station. File:Terminal Fountain - Cincinnati Museum Center.jpg,
Cincinnati Union Terminal Cincinnati Union Terminal is an intercity train station and museum center in the Queensgate neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. Commonly abbreviated as CUT, or by its Amtrak station code, CIN, the terminal is served by Amtrak's ''Cardinal'' line ...
in Ohio (1933) now also functions as a museum and cultural center. File:Union-Station-LA-Waiting-Ro.jpg,
Union Station A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...
in Los Angeles (1939) is a mixture of Art Deco, Streamline Moderne, and Spanish
Mission Revival The Mission Revival style was part of an architectural movement, beginning in the late 19th century, for the revival and reinterpretation of American colonial styles. Mission Revival drew inspiration from the late 18th and early 19th century ...
File:LaGuardia MarineAirTerminal 1974.jpg, The Marine Air Terminal at
LaGuardia Airport LaGuardia Airport is a civil airport in East Elmhurst, Queens, New York City. Covering , the facility was established in 1929 and began operating as a public airport in 1939. It is named after former New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia ...
(1937) was the New York terminal for the flights of Pan Am Clipper flying boats.
Art Deco was often associated with airplanes, trains and airships and was frequently chosen as the style for new transport terminals. The semi-dome of
Cincinnati Union Terminal Cincinnati Union Terminal is an intercity train station and museum center in the Queensgate neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. Commonly abbreviated as CUT, or by its Amtrak station code, CIN, the terminal is served by Amtrak's ''Cardinal'' line ...
(1933) measures wide and high. After the decline of railroad travel, most of the building was converted to other uses, including the Cincinnati Museum Center, though it is still used as an Amtrak station. The Marine Air Terminal at
LaGuardia Airport LaGuardia Airport is a civil airport in East Elmhurst, Queens, New York City. Covering , the facility was established in 1929 and began operating as a public airport in 1939. It is named after former New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia ...
, built in 1939, was the first terminal for overseas flights from New York; it served the flying boats of
Pan American World Airways Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was an American airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States ...
which landed in the harbor. It survived destruction, and still contains a notable Art Deco mural called Flight, which was destroyed and then restored in the 1980s.
Union Station A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...
in Los Angeles was partially designed by John Parkinson and Donald B. Parkinson (the Parkinsons) who had also designed
Los Angeles City Hall Los Angeles City Hall, completed in 1928, is the center of the government of the city of Los Angeles, California, and houses the mayor's office and the meeting chambers and offices of the Los Angeles City Council. It is located in the Civic Cente ...
and other landmark Los Angeles buildings. The structure combines
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 Unite ...
,
Mission Revival The Mission Revival style was part of an architectural movement, beginning in the late 19th century, for the revival and reinterpretation of American colonial styles. Mission Revival drew inspiration from the late 18th and early 19th century ...
, and Streamline Moderne style, with architectural details such as eight-pointed stars, and even elements of
Dutch Colonial Revival architecture Dutch Colonial is a style of domestic architecture, primarily characterized by gambrel roofs having curved eaves along the length of the house. Modern versions built in the early 20th century are more accurately referred to as "Dutch Colonial Rev ...
.


Hotels, resorts, and the Miami Beach style

File:Portal Waldorf Astoria.jpg, Entrance of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel (1929) File:SouthBeachMiamiBeach.jpg, Miami Beach Architectural District from 1920s–1930s File:Tides Hotel Miami Beach.jpg, The Tides Hotel on Ocean Drive in Miami Beach (1933) File:Delano National MiamiBeach.JPG, The Delano South Beach (1947) and National Hotel (1943) in Miami Beach The Art Deco period saw an enormous increase in travel and tourism, by trains, automobiles, and airplanes. Several luxury hotels were built in the new style; the
Waldorf-Astoria The Waldorf Astoria New York is a luxury hotel and condominium residence in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The structure, at 301 Park Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets, is a 47-story Art Deco landmark designed by architects Schult ...
on Park Avenue in New York City, built in 1929 to replace a beaux-arts style building from the 1890s, was the tallest and largest hotel in the world when it was built. The city of Miami Beach, Florida developed its own particular variant of Art Deco, and the style remained popular there until the late 1940s, well after other American cities. It became a popular tourist destination in the 1920s and 1930s, particularly attracting visitors from the Northeast United States during the winter. A large number of Art Deco hotels were built, which have been grouped together into an historical area, the Miami Beach Architectural District, and preserved, and many have been restored to their original appearance. The district has an area of about one square kilometer, and contains both hotels and secondary residences, all about the same height, none higher than twelve or thirteen stories. Most have classic Art Deco characteristics; clear geometric shapes spread out horizontally; aerodynamic streamline features; and often a central tower breaking the horizontal, topped by a spire or dome. A particular Miami Art Deco feature is the palette of pastel colors, alternating with white stucco. The decoration features herons, sea shells, palm trees and sunrises and sunsets. The neon lighting at night highlights the Art Deco atmosphere.


Diners and roadside architecture

File:U-Drop Inn.jpg, The U-Drop Inn, a roadside gas station and diner on U.S. Highway 66 in
Shamrock, Texas Shamrock is a city in Wheeler County, Texas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 1,910. The city is located in the eastern portion of the Texas Panhandle centered along the crossroads of Interstate 40 (formerl ...
(1936) File:Modern diner.jpg, The Modern Diner in
Pawtucket, Rhode Island Pawtucket is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 75,604 at the 2020 census, making the city the fourth-largest in the state. Pawtucket borders Providence and East Providence to the south, Central Fal ...
(1940) is modeled after streamlined railroad car.
Because of its high cost of construction, Art Deco was usually used only in large office buildings, government buildings and theaters, but it was sometimes used in smaller structures, such as diners and gas stations, particularly along highways. A notable example is the U-Drop Inn in
Shamrock, Texas Shamrock is a city in Wheeler County, Texas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 1,910. The city is located in the eastern portion of the Texas Panhandle centered along the crossroads of Interstate 40 (formerl ...
, located along U.S. Highway 66. It was built in 1936, and is now owned by the City of Shamrock, and is an historical landmark. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, a number of diners modeled after the cars of streamlined trains were produced, and appeared in different cities in the United States. In a few cases, real railroad cars were transformed into diners. A few survive, including the Modern Diner in
Pawtucket, Rhode Island Pawtucket is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 75,604 at the 2020 census, making the city the fourth-largest in the state. Pawtucket borders Providence and East Providence to the south, Central Fal ...
which is a registered landmark.


Fine Art


Murals

File:The Tragic Prelude John Brown.jpg, Mural "Tragic Prelude" depicting abolitionist John Brown in the
Kansas State Capitol The Kansas State Capitol, known also as the Kansas Statehouse, is the building housing the executive and legislative branches of government for the U.S. state of Kansas. Located in the city of Topeka, which has served as the capital of Kansas sin ...
building, by
John Steuart Curry John Steuart Curry (November 14, 1897 – August 29, 1946) was an American painter whose career spanned the years from 1924 until his death. He was noted for his paintings depicting rural life in his home state, Kansas. Along with Thomas Hart B ...
(1930) File:Diego Rivera - Detroit Industry Murals.jpg, Part of "Detroit Industry"' mural by
Diego Rivera Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez, known as Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957), was a prominent Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the ...
in the
Detroit Institute of Arts The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), located in Midtown Detroit, Michigan, has one of the largest and most significant art collections in the United States. With over 100 galleries, it covers with a major renovation and expansion project comple ...
(1932–33) File:Paul Kelpe History of Southern Illinois.jpg, A portion of a mural depicting the History of Southern Illinois, commissioned by the Federal Art Project for the lLibrary of the University of Southern Illinois (1935) File:Coit Mural Agriculture.jpg, A portion of ''California'' by Maxine Albro, on the interior of
Coit Tower Coit Tower is a tower in the Telegraph Hill neighborhood of San Francisco, California, offering panoramic views over the city and the bay. The tower, in the city's Pioneer Park, was built between 1932 and 1933 using Lillie Hitchcock Coit's beq ...
in
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
(1934) File:Mural-Ariel-Rios-Marsh-1.jpg, Workers sorting the mail, a mural in the U.S. Customs House in New York by Reginald Marsh (1936) File:Mural-Ariel-Rios-Rockwell-Kent-1.jpg, Mural ''Art in the Tropics'' by
Rockwell Kent Rockwell Kent (June 21, 1882 – March 13, 1971) was an American painter, printmaker, illustrator, writer, sailor, adventurer and voyager. Biography Rockwell Kent was born in Tarrytown, New York. Kent was of English descent. He lived much of ...
in the
William Jefferson Clinton Federal Building The William Jefferson Clinton Federal Building is a complex of several historic buildings located in the Federal Triangle in Washington, D.C., across 12th Street, NW from the Old Post Office. The complex now houses the headquarters of the Enviro ...
(1938)
There was no specific Art Deco style of painting in the United States, though paintings were often used as decoration, especially in government buildings and office buildings. In the 1932 the
Public Works of Art Project The Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) was a New Deal program designed to employ artists that operated from 1933 to 1934. The program was headed by Edward Bruce, under the United States Treasury Department with funding from the Civil Works Admin ...
was created to give work to artists unemployed because the Great Depression. In a year, it commissioned more than fifteen thousand works of art. It was succeeded in 1935 by the
Federal Arts Project The Federal Art Project (1935–1943) was a New Deal program to fund the visual arts in the United States. Under national director Holger Cahill, it was one of five Federal Project Number One projects sponsored by the Works Progress Administratio ...
of the
Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...
, or WPA. prominent American artists were commissioned by the
Federal Art Project The Federal Art Project (1935–1943) was a New Deal program to fund the visual arts in the United States. Under national director Holger Cahill, it was one of five Federal Project Number One projects sponsored by the Works Progress Administrati ...
to paint murals in government buildings, hospitals, airports, schools and universities. Some the America's most famous artists, including Grant Wood, Reginald Marsh,
Georgia O'Keeffe Georgia Totto O'Keeffe (November 15, 1887 – March 6, 1986) was an American modernist artist. She was known for her paintings of enlarged flowers, New York skyscrapers, and New Mexico landscapes. O'Keeffe has been called the "Mother of Ame ...
and Maxine Albro took part in the program. The celebrated Mexican painter
Diego Rivera Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez, known as Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957), was a prominent Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the ...
also took part in the program, painting a mural. The paintings were in a variety of styles, including regionalism,
social realism Social realism is the term used for work produced by painters, printmakers, photographers, writers and filmmakers that aims to draw attention to the real socio-political conditions of the working class as a means to critique the power structure ...
, and American scenic painting. A few murals were also commissioned for Art Deco skyscrapers, notably Rockefeller Center in New York. Two murals were commissioned for the lobby, one by
John Steuart Curry John Steuart Curry (November 14, 1897 – August 29, 1946) was an American painter whose career spanned the years from 1924 until his death. He was noted for his paintings depicting rural life in his home state, Kansas. Along with Thomas Hart B ...
and another by Diego Rivera. The owners of the building, the Rockefeller family, discovered that Rivera, a Communist, had slipped an image of Lenin into a crowd in the painting, and had it destroyed. The mural was replaced with another by the Spanish artist José Maria Sert.


Sculpture

File:20120929 Chicago Board of Trade Building top cropped.jpg, Aluminum statue of Ceres atop the Chicago Board of Trade Building (1930) File:Chicago Board of Trade.jpg, Clock of the Chicago Board of Trade (1930) File:NYC - Rockefeller center - 1558.jpg, Statue of
Prometheus In Greek mythology, Prometheus (; , , possibly meaning " forethought")Smith"Prometheus". is a Titan god of fire. Prometheus is best known for defying the gods by stealing fire from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technology, kn ...
by
Paul Manship Paul Howard Manship (December 24, 1885 – January 28, 1966) was an American sculptor. He consistently created mythological pieces in a classical style, and was a major force in the Art Deco movement. He is well known for his large public com ...
at
Rockefeller Center Rockefeller Center is a large complex consisting of 19 commercial buildings covering between 48th Street and 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The 14 original Art Deco buildings, commissioned by the Rockefeller family, span th ...
(1934) File:Clock inside Rockefeller Center.jpeg, Lobby clock in
Rockefeller Center Rockefeller Center is a large complex consisting of 19 commercial buildings covering between 48th Street and 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The 14 original Art Deco buildings, commissioned by the Rockefeller family, span th ...
File:LLRockefellerCenter2.jpg, Sculpture on the wall of
Rockefeller Center Rockefeller Center is a large complex consisting of 19 commercial buildings covering between 48th Street and 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The 14 original Art Deco buildings, commissioned by the Rockefeller family, span th ...
File:Cochise County Courthouse Bisbee Arizona ArtDecoDoors.jpg, Doors of
Cochise County Courthouse Tombstone Courthouse State Historic Park is a state park of Arizona in the United States. Located in Tombstone, the park preserves the original Cochise County courthouse. The two-story building, constructed in 1882 in the Victorian style, is la ...
in
Bisbee, Arizona Bisbee is a city in and the county seat of Cochise County in southeastern Arizona, United States. It is southeast of Tucson and north of the Mexican border. According to the 2020 census, the population of the town was 4,923, down from 5,575 ...
One of the largest Art Deco sculptures is the statue of Ceres, the goddess of grain and fertility, at the top of the Chicago Board of Trade. Made of aluminum, it stands 31 feet (9.4 meters) tall, and weighs 6,500 pounds. Ceres was chosen because the Chicago Board of Trade was one of the largest grain and commodities markets in the world.


Graphic Arts

File:Chicago world's fair, a century of progress, expo poster, 1933, 2.jpg, Poster for Chicago World's Fair (1933) File:Don't jay walk 1937.jpg, WPA Poster warning against crossing the street against the light (1937) File:Flickr - …trialsanderrors - Port of Philadelphia, WPA poster, ca. 1937 (1).jpg, WPA poster advertising Port of Philadelphia (1937) File:Swim for health in safe and pure pools LCCN98518824.jpg, WPA "Swim for Health" poster (1938) File:Pennsylvania, WPA poster, ca. 1938.jpg, WPA Tourism promotion poster for state of Pennsylvania (1938) The Art Deco style appeared early in the graphic arts, in the years just before World War I. It appeared in Paris in the posters and the costume designs of Léon Bakst for the Ballets Russes, and in the catalogs of the fashion designers
Paul Poiret Paul Poiret (20 April 1879 – 30 April 1944, Paris, France) was a French fashion designer, a master couturier during the first two decades of the 20th century. He was the founder of his namesake haute couture house. Early life and care ...
. The illustrations of Georges Barbier, and Georges Lepape and the images in the fashion magazine ''La Gazette du bon ton'' perfectly captured the elegance and sensuality of the style. In the 1920s, the look changed; the fashions stressed were more casual, sportive and daring, with the woman models usually smoking cigarettes. American fashion magazines such as ''
Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...
'', '' Vanity Fair'' and '' Harper's Bazaar'' quickly picked up the new style and popularized it in the United States. It also influenced the work of American book illustrators such as
Rockwell Kent Rockwell Kent (June 21, 1882 – March 13, 1971) was an American painter, printmaker, illustrator, writer, sailor, adventurer and voyager. Biography Rockwell Kent was born in Tarrytown, New York. Kent was of English descent. He lived much of ...
. In the 1930s a new genre of posters appeared in the United States during the Great Depression. The
Federal Art Project The Federal Art Project (1935–1943) was a New Deal program to fund the visual arts in the United States. Under national director Holger Cahill, it was one of five Federal Project Number One projects sponsored by the Works Progress Administrati ...
hired American artists to create posters to promote tourism and cultural events.


PWA Moderne

Government and public buildings of the 30s and 40s often combined elements of neoclassical, Beauxs-Arts, and Art Deco. This style is called PWA Moderne, Federal Moderne,''The Grove Encyclopedia of American Art, Volume 1'', Joan M. Marter, ed., p. 147
/ref> Depression Moderne,
/ref> Classical Moderne,
Stripped Classicism Stripped Classicism (or "Starved Classicism" or "Grecian Moderne") Jstor is primarily a 20th-century classicist architectural style stripped of most or all ornamentation, frequently employed by governments while designing official buildings. ...
, or Greco Deco. during and shortly after the Great Depression as part of relief projects sponsored by the Public Works Administration (PWA) and the
Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...
(WPA). The style draws from traditional motifs such as Beaux-Arts classicism and
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 Unite ...
and is similar to Streamline Moderne, often with zigzag ornamentation added. The structures reflect a greater use of conservative and classical elements and have a monumental feel. They include post offices, train stations, public schools, libraries, civic centers, courthouses, museums, bridges, and dams across the country. Banks were also built in the style because such buildings radiated authority. The architecture frequently expressed itself in a rather severe Greco-Roman facade decorated with deco styles shallow
relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...
s and/or deco styled interior decoration featuring
mural A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...
s, tile
mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...
s and sculpture. A common motif among this architecture is the use of stylized or simplified pilasters.


Elements of the style

Typical elements of PWA Moderne buildings include: *Classical balanced and symmetrical form *Windows arranged as vertical recessed panels *Surfaces sheathed in smooth, flat stone or stucco


Examples

Examples of PWA buildings and structures include:


Arizona/Nevada

* Hoover Dam (Boulder Dam) – on the
Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. s ...
in
Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
and
Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...
. * Arizona State Fairgrounds Grandstand (1936–1937) – Phoenix, Arizona. The exterior of the grandstand has 23
bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...
panels by David Carrick Swing and Florence Blakeslee, that were funded by the
Federal Art Project The Federal Art Project (1935–1943) was a New Deal program to fund the visual arts in the United States. Under national director Holger Cahill, it was one of five Federal Project Number One projects sponsored by the Works Progress Administrati ...
.KJZZ.org: "Did You Know: Arizona State Fairgrounds 110 Years Old"
by Nadine Arroyo Rodriguez, 21 August 2015; with images of the WPA Grandstand and Administration Building.
* WPA Administration Building (1938) – at 19th Avenue and McDowell Road on the Arizona State Fairgrounds, Phoenix, Arizona. It was headquarters for Works Progress Administration−WPA projects in Arizona.


Florida

*
Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...
**Ed Austin Building (former Federal Courthouse, current State Attorney's Office), 1933, Marsh & Saxelbye


California


=Greater Los Angeles

= * Burbank:
Burbank City Hall Burbank City Hall is the site of the municipal government of Burbank, California, Burbank, California, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Designed by architects William Allen and W. George Lutzi in the Streamline Moderne, M ...
, Allen Lutzi"PWA Moderne", Los Angeles Conservancy website
/ref> * Culver City: **
Helms Bakery The Helms Bakery on the border of Los Angeles and Culver City, California, was a notable industrial bakery of Southern California that operated from 1931 to 1969. The buildings have now been adapted for reuse as retail shops, restaurants, and fur ...
, 1930,
E. L. Bruner Edgar L. "Bud" Bruner (December 7, 1907 – February 21, 1996) was an American boxing manager, trainer, and gym proprietor from Louisville, Kentucky. Career Bruner was a star athlete at duPont Manual High School in Louisville. He lettered in baseba ...
**
MGM Studios Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...
, 1938–39, Claude Beelman, Beaux-Arts in the guise of PWA Moderne * El Segundo: El Segundo Elementary School, 1936 *
Hermosa Beach Hermosa Beach (''Hermosa'', Spanish for "Beautiful") is a beachfront city in Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California, United States. Its population was 19,728 at the 2020 U.S. Census. The city is located in the South Bay region of th ...
: North School, 1934 Samuel Lunden (Per File #19-45 of DSA Records); Pier Avenue School, 1939, March, Smith, and Powell * Inglewood:
Inglewood Memorial Park Inglewood may refer to: Places Australia * Inglewood, Queensland * Shire of Inglewood, Queensland, a former local government area *Inglewood, South Australia *Inglewood, Victoria *Inglewood, Western Australia Canada * Inglewood, Ontario *Inglewo ...
, buildings 1933 and 1940, Walter E. Erkes * Lancaster: Post Office (1940,
Louis A. Simon Louis Adolphe Simon (1867–1958) was an American architect. He was born in Baltimore, Maryland. Simon was educated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Following a tour of Europe, he opened an architectural office in Baltimore, M ...
and former School Building (c. 1937) * Lawndale: Leuzinger High School, T.C. Kistner & Cómo.; Kistner & Curtis; Eugene D. Birnbaum and Associates *
Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...
**Jefferson Junior High School Building, 1936 ** Long Beach Main Post Office, 1934,
Louis A. Simon Louis Adolphe Simon (1867–1958) was an American architect. He was born in Baltimore, Maryland. Simon was educated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Following a tour of Europe, he opened an architectural office in Baltimore, M ...
and
James A. Wetmore James Alfonso Wetmore (November 1863 – March 14, 1940) was an American lawyer and administrator, best known as the Acting Supervising Architect of the U.S. Office of the Supervising Architect of the Treasury Department from 1915 through 1933 ...
**Municipal Utilities Building, 1932, Dedrick and Bobbe **Robert Louis Stevenson school, c. 1936 **Veteran's Memorial Building 1936–37,
George Kahrs George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Preside ...
*
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
: ** Abraham Lincoln High School ( Lincoln Heights), 1937–38, Albert C. Martin ** Carpenter Community Charter School **Distribution Station #28, Department of Water and Power (West L.A.), 1945–46, G. E. Benker, engineer ** Federal Building and Post Office (now U.S. Federal Courthouse), 1938–1940,
Louis A. Simon Louis Adolphe Simon (1867–1958) was an American architect. He was born in Baltimore, Maryland. Simon was educated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Following a tour of Europe, he opened an architectural office in Baltimore, M ...
** Hall of Administration, 1956–1961: A continuation of the PWA Moderne style in the 1950s **Hollywood Branch Post Office, 1937, Claude Beellman, Allison and Allison **
Pacific Stock Exchange The Pacific Exchange was a regional stock exchange in California, from 1956 to 2006. Its main exchange floor and building were in San Francisco, California, with a branch building in Los Angeles, California. In 1882, the San Francisco Stock an ...
, 1929–30, Samuel E. Lunden **Police and Fire Station of Venice, c. 1930 **
San Pedro High School San Pedro High School is a public high school in the Los Angeles Unified School District and is located in the San Pedro portion of the city of Los Angeles, California. The school serves the entirety of San Pedro as well as most of the Eastvie ...
, 1935–1937, Gordon B. Kaufmann ** Sepulveda Dam, 1941, flood control dam on the
Los Angeles River , name_etymology = , image = File:Los Angeles River from Fletcher Drive Bridge 2019.jpg , image_caption = L.A. River from Fletcher Drive Bridge , image_size = 300 , map = LARmap.jpg , map_size ...
in the San Fernando Valley, 1939–1941, War Department **U.S. Customs House and Post Office ( San Pedro), 1935 **U.S. Naval and Marine Corps Armory, 1939–40, Stiles Clements **
University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...
campus: Alan Hancock Foundation and Memorial Museum, 1940, Cram and Ferguson *
Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. ...
: **Armory Gallery (former California State Armory), 1932, Bennett and Haskell **Grover Cleveland Elementary School, 1934 * San Gabriel: San Gabriel Union Church and School, 1936 *
Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to i ...
: ** Santa Monica City Hall, 1938–39, Donald B. Parkinson and J. M. Estep **Post Office, Robert Dennis Murray,
Louis A. Simon Louis Adolphe Simon (1867–1958) was an American architect. He was born in Baltimore, Maryland. Simon was educated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Following a tour of Europe, he opened an architectural office in Baltimore, M ...
* Torrance: ** Auditorium (Torrance High School) **Torrance Public Library, 1936,
Walker & Eisen Walker & Eisen (1919−1941) was an architectural partnership of architects Albert R. Walker and Percy A. Eisen in Los Angeles, California. Partners in addition to Walker and Eisen included: Clifford A. Balch, William Glenn Balch, and Burt W ...
* Whittier:''An Arch Guidebook to Los Angeles'', Robert Winter, p. 322
/ref> **National Trust and Savings, c. 1935, William H. Harrison **Whittier Post Office, 1935, Louis A. Simon **Whittier-Union High School, 1939–40, William H. Harrison


=Elsewhere in California

= * Bakersfield:
Kern County Hall of Records The Kern County Hall of Records is a government building in Bakersfield, California. It is the repository of records for Kern County. The building is located in the Civic Center, Downtown. Constructed in 1909, it is the longest continuously used go ...
, 1939 remodel, Chris Brewer *
Fresno Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...
: County Hall of Records, 1937, Allied Architects of Fresno *
Jackson Jackson may refer to: People and fictional characters * Jackson (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname or given name Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Qu ...
: Amador County Courthouse, 1940 remodel, George Sellon * Oakland: Alameda County Courthouse, 1939 * Salinas: Monterey County Courthouse, 1937, Robert Stanton & Charles Butner *
San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...
:
San Diego County Administration Center The San Diego County Administration Center is a historic Beaux-Arts/Spanish Revival-style building in San Diego, California. It houses the offices of the Government of San Diego County. It was completed in 1938 and was primarily funded by the Wo ...
, 1938, Samuel Wood Hamill,
William Templeton Johnson William Templeton Johnson (1877 – 1957) was a notable San Diego architect. He was a fellow to the American Institute of Architects (AIA) in 1939. Johnson is known for his Spanish Revival buildings, all in San Diego unless otherwise noted: * L ...
,
Richard Requa Richard Smith Requa (March 27, 1881 – June 10, 1941) was an American architect, largely known for his work in San Diego, California. Requa was the Master Architect for the California Pacific International Exposition held in Balboa Park in 1935 ...
, Louis John Gill *
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
: San Francisco Mint, 1937 *
San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo (; Spanish for " St. Louis the Bishop", ; Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, in the U.S. state of California. Located on the Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly hal ...
: San Luis Obispo County Courthouse, 1940,
Walker & Eisen Walker & Eisen (1919−1941) was an architectural partnership of architects Albert R. Walker and Percy A. Eisen in Los Angeles, California. Partners in addition to Walker and Eisen included: Clifford A. Balch, William Glenn Balch, and Burt W ...
* Santa Cruz: Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium, 1939 *
Visalia Visalia ( ) is a city in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley of California. The population was 141,384 as per the 2020 census. Visalia is the fifth-largest city in the San Joaquin Valley, the 42nd most populous in California, and 192nd in ...
: Tulare County Courthouse (now Department of Public Social Services), 1935, Ernest Kump


District of Columbia (Washington, D.C.)

*
Folger Shakespeare Library The Folger Shakespeare Library is an independent research library on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., United States. It has the world's largest collection of the printed works of William Shakespeare, and is a primary repository for rare materi ...
, 1932,
Paul Philippe Cret Paul Philippe Cret (October 23, 1876 – September 8, 1945) was a French-born Philadelphia architect and industrial designer. For more than thirty years, he taught at a design studio in the Department of Architecture at the University of Pennsylv ...
*
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...
Annex (
John Adams Building The John Adams Building is the second oldest of the four buildings of the Library of Congress of the United States. It is named for John Adams, the second president, who signed the law creating the Library of Congress. The building is in the Capit ...
), 1939, Pierson & Wilson * Harry S Truman Building (particularly the War Department building) of the
United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...
, 1939, Underwood & Foster


Iowa

* Animosa: Jones County Courthouse, 1937, Dougher, Rich and Woodburn *
Audubon The National Audubon Society (Audubon; ) is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation of birds and their habitats. Located in the United States and incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such org ...
:
Audubon County Court House The Audubon County Court House is located in the county seat of Audubon, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003 as a part of the PWA-Era County Courthouses of IA Multiple Properties Submission. The co ...
, 1940, Keffer and Jones *
Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...
: Cass County Courthouse, 1934, Dougher, Rich and Woodburn * Burlington: Des Moines County Court House, 1940, Keffer and Jones * Charles City: Floyd County Court House, 1940, Hansen & Waggoner * Dakota City: Humboldt County Courthouse, 1939 *
Independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...
: Buchanan County Court House, 1940, Dougher, Rich and Woodburn * Indianola: Warren County Court House, 1939, Keffer and Jones * Mason City: Mason City Engine House No. 2, 1939, Hansen & Waggoner * St. Olaf: St. Olaf Auditorium, 1939 *
Sioux City Sioux City () is a city in Woodbury and Plymouth counties in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 85,797 in the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Iowa. The bulk of the city is in Woodbury County ...
: Sioux City Municipal Auditorium, 1938–50, Knute E. Westerlind * Waukon:
Allamakee County Court House The Allamakee County Court House in Waukon, Iowa, United States was built in 1940. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003 as a part of the PWA-Era County Courthouses of IA Multiple Properties Submission. The courthouse ...
, 1940, Charles Altfillisch * Waverly: Bremer County Court House, 1937, Mortimer Cleveland


Minnesota

*
Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
:
Minneapolis Armory The Minneapolis Armory is a historic event center and former National Guard armory located in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Built by the Public Works Administration in 1936, the building was occupied by several Army and Naval Mil ...
, 1935–36, P.C. Bettenburg; Walter H. Wheeler


Mississippi

*
Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...
: Amory National Guard Armory, 1937–38, Overstreet & Town


Nevada

* Pioche: Lincoln County Courthouse, 1938, A. Lacy Worswick; L.F. Dow


Oregon

* Salem: Oregon State Capitol, 1938, Trowbridge & Livingston


Tennessee

* Nashville: Martin Luther King Magnet at Pearl High School


Texas

* Austin: Heman Marion Sweatt Travis County Courthouse 1930,1931, Page Brothers * Longview: Gregg County Courthouse 1932, Voelcker and Dixon


Utah

* Orderville: Valley School * Provo: Superintendent's Residence at the Utah State Hospital, 1934 (
Colonial Revival The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the archit ...
/PWA Moderne) * Santaquin: Santaquin Junior High School


Washington

*
Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
: William K. Nakamura Federal Courthouse, 1940,
Gilbert Stanley Underwood Gilbert Stanley Underwood (1890–1960) was an American architect best known for his National Park lodges. Born in 1890, Underwood received his B.A. from Yale in 1920 and a M.A. from Harvard in 1923. After opening an office in Los Angeles that ...


WPA Moderne

WPA Moderne has been used to describe restrained architecture at historic places such as the
Administration Building for the City of Grand Forks at the Grand Forks Airport Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an administrative officer, administ ...
(built 1941-43) in North Dakota, the
Municipal Auditorium and City Hall (Leoti, Kansas) The Museum of the Great Plains, in Leoti, Kansas, in Wichita County, Kansas, is a museum founded in 1982. It includes the 1892-built Washington-Ames House. It is located in the Municipal Auditorium and City Hall, at 201 N. 4th St., which was bu ...
(built 1939-42) in Kansas, and the
Kearney National Guard Armory Kearney or Kearneys may refer to: Places Australia * Kearneys Falls, Queensland * Kearneys Spring, Queensland Canada * Kearney, Ontario * Kearney Lake, Nova Scotia Northern Ireland * Kearney, County Down, a List of townlands in County Down, tow ...
in Nebraska. (See :WPA Moderne architecture). Relative to the Public Works Administration, which terminated in 1944, the
Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...
program, terminated in 1943, focused on smaller, often rural, projects providing employment.


See also

* List of Art Deco architecture *
List of Art Deco architecture in the United States This is a list of buildings that are examples of the Art Deco architectural style in the United States. Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georig ...
*
Art Deco architecture of New York City Art Deco architecture flourished in New York City during the 1920s and 1930s, before largely disappearing after World War II. The style is found in government edifices, commercial projects, and residential buildings in all five boroughs. The a ...
* * Streamline Moderne architecture * WPA Rustic architecture


References


Notes and citations


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * *


External links

* {{Architecture in the United States American architectural styles Art Deco architecture in the United States