The
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 ...
style, which originated in France just before
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, 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 U ...
including the
Empire State Building
The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from " Empire State", the nickname of 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 f ...
, and
Rockefeller Center
Rockefeller Center is a large complex consisting of 19 commerce, commercial buildings covering between 48th Street (Manhattan), 48th Street and 51st Street (Manhattan), 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The 14 original Art Deco ...
. 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, in ...
and the
Public Works Administration
The Public Works Administration (PWA), part of the New Deal of 1933, was a large-scale public works construction agency in the United States headed by Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes. It was created by the National Industrial Reco ...
, such as the
Golden Gate Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The structure links the U.S. city of San Francisco, California—the northern tip of the San Francisco P ...
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 f ...
, New York City (1928)
File:Empire State Building by David Shankbone.jpg, The Empire State Building
The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from " Empire State", the nickname of the ...
, New York City (1931)
File:570 Lexington Avenue2.JPG, Crown of the RCA Victor Building (now the General Electric Building), 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 ...
, 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 and ...
, 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. T ...
(1924)
File:Buffalo City Hall, Buffalo, NY - IMG 3740.JPG, Buffalo City Hall
Buffalo City Hall is the seat for municipal government in the City of Buffalo, New York. Located at 65 Niagara Square, the 32-story Art Deco building was completed in 1931 by Dietel, Wade & Jones.
The building is one of the largest and talle ...
, Buffalo, New York, Dietel, Wade & Jones, 1931
File:Plummer From 14Floor of Gonda BLDG.jpg, Plummer Building, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
Rochester is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Olmsted County. Located on rolling bluffs on the Zumbro River's south fork in Southeast Minnesota, the city is the home and birthplace of the renowned Mayo Clinic.
Ac ...
(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
Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, an ...
(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 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 wor ...
, 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 nickname ...
). 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 f ...
and the
Empire State Building
The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from " Empire State", the nickname of the ...
. 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
William Van Alen (August 10, 1883 – May 24, 1954) was an American architect, best known as the architect in charge of designing New York City's Chrysler Building (1928–30).
Life
William Van Alen was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1883 to ...
(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. 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 and
Lee Lawrie
Lee Oscar Lawrie (October 16, 1877 – January 23, 1963) was an American architectural sculptor and a key figure in the American art scene preceding World War II. Over his long career of more than 300 commissions Lawrie's style evolved through ...
, and a mosaic by
Barry Faulkner 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 wo ...
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
Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue and theater at 1260 Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Nicknamed "The Showplace of the Nation", it is the headquarters for th ...
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 Paramount Theater or Paramount Theatre may refer to:
Canada
* Scotiabank Theatre or Paramount Theatre, a chain of theatres owned by Cineplex Entertainment
** Scotiabank Theatre Toronto or Paramount Theatre Toronto
China
* Paramount (Shanghai) o ...
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
Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue and theater at 1260 Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Nicknamed "The Showplace of the Nation", it is the headquarters for th ...
, located within the skyscraper complex of
Rockefeller Center
Rockefeller Center is a large complex consisting of 19 commerce, commercial buildings covering between 48th Street (Manhattan), 48th Street and 51st Street (Manhattan), 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The 14 original Art Deco ...
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 mos ...
(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 Do ...
, Los Angeles, John and Donald Parkinson, 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 in Kansas City, Missouri (1931)
File:Detroit December 2015 26 (Guardian Building).jpg, Interior of the Guardian Building (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 ...
, Michigan (1928)
File:450 Sutter St. lobby 1.JPG, Lobby of the 450 Sutter Street 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, 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 Paramount Theater or Paramount Theatre may refer to:
Canada
* Scotiabank Theatre or Paramount Theatre, a chain of theatres owned by Cineplex Entertainment
** Scotiabank Theatre Toronto or Paramount Theatre Toronto
China
* Paramount (Shanghai) o ...
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, 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
Donald Sidney Deskey (November 23, 1894 – April 29, 1989) was an American industrial designer.
Biography
Donald Sidney Deskey was born in Blue Earth, Minnesota. He studied architecture at the University of California, but did not follow th ...
(1927-31)
1934ChryslerAirflow.jpg, Chrysler Airflow
The Chrysler Airflow is a full-size car produced by Chrysler from 1934 to 1937. The Airflow was the first full-size American production car to use streamlining as a basis for building a sleeker automobile, one less susceptible to air resistance ...
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 Mi ...
(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
Ballistics is the field of mechanics concerned with the launching, flight behaviour and impact effects of projectiles, especially ranged weapon munitions such as bullets, unguided bombs, rockets or the like; the science or art of designing ...
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
The Chrysler Airflow is a full-size car produced by Chrysler from 1934 to 1937. The Airflow was the first full-size American production car to use streamlining as a basis for building a sleeker automobile, one less susceptible to air resistance ...
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
The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...
(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 Philade ...
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 State ...
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 Cen ...
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 Unit ...
,
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
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 ...
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 Re ...
.
Hotels, resorts, and the Miami Beach style
File:Portal Waldorf Astoria.jpg, Entrance of 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 Schu ...
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
Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on natural and man-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter of which s ...
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 Schu ...
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
Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on natural and man-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter of which sep ...
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 (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 Fa ...
(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, 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 Fa ...
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 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 complet ...
(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
Maxine Albro (January 20, 1893 – July 19, 1966) was an American painter, muralist, lithographer, mosaic artist, and sculptor. She was one of America's leading female artists, and one of the few women commissioned under the New Deal's Federal A ...
, 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 b ...
in San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, 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 List of Ca ...
(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 Admi ...
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 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, in ...
, 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 Administr ...
to paint murals in government buildings, hospitals, airports, schools and universities. Some the America's most famous artists, including
Grant Wood
Grant DeVolson Wood (February 13, 1891 February 12, 1942) was an American painter and representative of Regionalism, best known for his paintings depicting the rural American Midwest. He is particularly well known for '' American Gothic'' (1930 ...
,
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
Maxine Albro (January 20, 1893 – July 19, 1966) was an American painter, muralist, lithographer, mosaic artist, and sculptor. She was one of America's leading female artists, and one of the few women commissioned under the New Deal's Federal A ...
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
The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), established on April 3, 1848, is one of the world's oldest futures exchange, futures and options exchanges. On July 12, 2007, the CBOT merged with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) to form CME Group. CBOT and ...
Building (1930)
File:Chicago Board of Trade.jpg, Clock of the Chicago Board of Trade
The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), established on April 3, 1848, is one of the world's oldest futures exchange, futures and options exchanges. On July 12, 2007, the CBOT merged with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) to form CME Group. CBOT and ...
(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, know ...
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 commerce, commercial buildings covering between 48th Street (Manhattan), 48th Street and 51st Street (Manhattan), 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The 14 original Art Deco ...
(1934)
File:Clock inside Rockefeller Center.jpeg, Lobby clock in Rockefeller Center
Rockefeller Center is a large complex consisting of 19 commerce, commercial buildings covering between 48th Street (Manhattan), 48th Street and 51st Street (Manhattan), 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The 14 original Art Deco ...
File:LLRockefellerCenter2.jpg, Sculpture on the wall of Rockefeller Center
Rockefeller Center is a large complex consisting of 19 commerce, commercial buildings covering between 48th Street (Manhattan), 48th Street and 51st Street (Manhattan), 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The 14 original Art Deco ...
File:Cochise County Courthouse Bisbee Arizona ArtDecoDoors.jpg, Doors of Cochise County Courthouse 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 i ...
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
The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), established on April 3, 1848, is one of the world's oldest futures exchange, futures and options exchanges. On July 12, 2007, the CBOT merged with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) to form CME Group. CBOT and ...
. 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
Léon Bakst (russian: Леон (Лев) Николаевич Бакст, Leon (Lev) Nikolaevich Bakst) – born as Leyb-Khaim Izrailevich (later Samoylovich) Rosenberg, Лейб-Хаим Израилевич (Самойлович) Розенбе ...
for the
Ballets Russes
The Ballets Russes () was an itinerant ballet company begun in Paris that performed between 1909 and 1929 throughout Europe and on tours to North and South America. The company never performed in Russia, where the Russian Revolution, Revolution ...
, 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'', ''
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 Administr ...
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. I ...
, or Greco Deco.[ during and shortly after the Great Depression as part of relief projects sponsored by the ]Public Works Administration
The Public Works Administration (PWA), part of the New Deal of 1933, was a large-scale public works construction agency in the United States headed by Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes. It was created by the National Industrial Reco ...
(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, in ...
(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 Unit ...
and is similar to 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 ...
,[ 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
In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wall ...
.
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 U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States. It is the list of U.S. states and territories by area, 6th largest and the list of U.S. states and territories by population, 14 ...
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 Administr ...
.[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 largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the c ...
**Ed Austin Building (former Federal Courthouse, current State Attorney's Office), 1933, Marsh & Saxelbye
California
=Greater Los Angeles
=
* Burbank: Burbank City Hall, Allen Lutzi["PWA Moderne", Los Angeles Conservancy website]
/ref>
*Culver City
Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. Founded in 1917 as a "whites only" sundown town, it is now an ethnically diverse city with what was called the "third-most d ...
:
** Helms Bakery, 1930, E. L. Bruner
**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 ...
: North School, 1934 Samuel Lunden (Per File #19-45 of DSA Records); Pier Avenue School, 1939, March, Smith, and Powell
*Inglewood 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 ...
: Inglewood Memorial Park, buildings 1933 and 1940, Walter E. Erkes
Walter E. Erkes (March 25, 1884 - June 23, 1961) was an American architect. He became an architect in California, where he designed buildings in Oxnard, Alhambra, and Los Angeles, some of which he designed buildings with architect John Paul Kr ...
*Lancaster Lancaster may refer to:
Lands and titles
*The County Palatine of Lancaster, a synonym for Lancashire
*Duchy of Lancaster, one of only two British royal duchies
*Duke of Lancaster
*Earl of Lancaster
*House of Lancaster, a British royal dynasty
...
: Post Office (1940, Louis A. Simon and former School Building (c. 1937)
* Lawndale: Leuzinger High School
Leuzinger High School is a public high school (9th through 12th grades) in Lawndale, California, United States. It opened on January 27, 1931, with an enrollment of 268. It was named after Adolph Leuzinger in recognition of his 25 years of servic ...
, 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.
Incorporated ...
**Jefferson Junior High School Building, 1936
** Long Beach Main Post Office, 1934, Louis A. Simon 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 Pres ...
*Los Angeles
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 wor ...
:
** Abraham Lincoln High School ( Lincoln Heights), 1937–38, Albert C. Martin
**Carpenter Community Charter School
Carpenter Community Charter School, formerly Carpenter Avenue Elementary School, is a public K-5 elementary school in Los Angeles, California.
Carpenter Community Charter is part of the Los Angeles Unified School District. The school is in Stud ...
**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
** 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 and ...
, 1929–30, Samuel E. Lunden
**Police and Fire Station of Venice, c. 1930
** San Pedro High School, 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
Stiles Oliver Clements (March 2, 1883 – January 15, 1966) was an architect practicing in Los Angeles and Southern California.
History
Clements trained at the École des Beaux-Arts, Paris. He was a key figure in the 1920s Art Deco archite ...
**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. ...
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.
Its ...
:
**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 ...
:
** Santa Monica City Hall, 1938–39, Donald B. Parkinson and J. M. Estep
**Post Office, Robert Dennis Murray, Louis A. Simon
* Torrance:
** Auditorium (Torrance High School)
**Torrance Public Library, 1936, Walker & Eisen
* 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
Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley (California), Central Valley r ...
: 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: Amador County Courthouse, 1940 remodel, George Sellon
*Oakland
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 ...
: 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 States ...
: 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 language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, 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 List of Ca ...
: San Francisco Mint
The San Francisco Mint is a branch of the United States Mint. Opened in 1854 to serve the gold mines of the California Gold Rush, in twenty years its operations exceeded the capacity of the first building. It moved into a new one in 1874, now kno ...
, 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 h ...
: San Luis Obispo County Courthouse, 1940, Walker & Eisen
* Santa Cruz: Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium, 1939
* Visalia: 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 mater ...
, 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 Pennsyl ...
[
*]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 librar ...
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 Ca ...
), 1939, Pierson & Wilson[
*]Harry S Truman Building
The Harry S Truman Building is the headquarters of the United States Department of State. It is located in Washington, D.C., and houses the office of the United States Secretary of State.
The Truman Building is located in the Foggy Bottom neig ...
(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: Audubon County Court House, 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 s ...
: Buchanan County Court House, 1940, Dougher, Rich and Woodburn
*Indianola Indianola may refer to:
Places in the United States
* Indianola, California (disambiguation)
** Indianola (Eureka), California
* Indianola, Florida
* Indianola, Georgia
* Indianola, Illinois
* Indianola, Iowa
* Indianola, Kansas, a former settleme ...
: 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
The Sioux City Municipal Auditorium, known as the Long Lines Family Recreation Center for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose facility in Sioux City, Iowa. The fifth in a line of major indoor venues built in Sioux City, it was designed by Kn ...
, 1938–50, Knute E. Westerlind
* Waukon: Allamakee County Court House, 1940, Charles Altfillisch
* Waverly: Bremer County Court House, 1937, Mortimer Cleveland
Mortimer B. Cleveland 19 Nov 1882-23 May 1979 (aged 96) was an American architect of Waterloo, Iowa, and was "one of Waterloo's most prominent architects".
He attended the University of Illinois and received bachelors and masters in architecture. ...
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 list of lakes in Minneapolis, thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. ...
: 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 Mi ...
, 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. Mis ...
: 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
The Oregon State Capitol is the building housing the state legislature and the offices of the governor, secretary of state, and treasurer of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located in the state capitol, Salem. Constructed from 1936 to 1938 an ...
, 1938, Trowbridge & Livingston
Tennessee
*Nashville
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and t ...
: 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
The Superintendent's Residence at the Utah State Hospital is a historic house located at the Utah State Hospital in east Provo, Utah, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. and
This Colonial Revival ...
, 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 archi ...
/PWA Moderne)
* Santaquin: Santaquin Junior High School
Washington
*Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...
: 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 tha ...
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 (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 ...
(built 1939-42) in Kansas, and the Kearney National Guard Armory in Nebraska. (See :WPA Moderne architecture). Relative to the Public Works Administration
The Public Works Administration (PWA), part of the New Deal of 1933, was a large-scale public works construction agency in the United States headed by Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes. It was created by the National Industrial Reco ...
, 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, in ...
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
* 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 arc ...
*
* Streamline Moderne architecture
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 design ...
* WPA Rustic architecture
References
Notes and citations
Bibliography
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External links
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{{Architecture in the United States
American architectural styles
Art Deco architecture in the United States