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Art Deco History



Art Deco is the name given to an art and design style popular in Europe and America from the mid-1920s until before World War II.

Art Deco influenced not only architecture but also had an impact on fashion, art and furniture. From the 1920s to the 1940s, Art Deco architecture was a refreshing change from the eclectic and revivalist styles. The style takes its name from the Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs held in Paris in 1925. The style was essentially one of applied decoration. Buildings were glamorized with geometric shapes, including chevrons and ziggurats; and stylized floral and sunrise patterns. Some buildings used expensive handcrafted decorations although others used machine-made repetitive decorations. Art Deco projects produced dynamic collaborations between architects, painters, sculptors, and designers—sometimes resulting in complete Art Deco environments like Old Miami Beach, Florida. In its day, some of what we now refer to as Art Deco was often called Moderne, or Art Moderne, a term used to describe the most advanced design ideas of the 1930s through to the end of World War II.


Art Deco was first applied to public and commercial buildings in the 1920s. Although individual homes were rarely designed in the Art Deco style, architects and developers, especially in greater Washington, DC, found that the style adapted quite well to apartment buildings. Most of these buildings are still in use, a testament to the city’s richly varied architectural history.


History


Art Deco elements became noticeable in Paris in the early 1920s. But for architecture, the first real signal of a new style came in Chicago in 1922. There, a Finnish architect named Eliel Saarinen entered architectural drawings in a contest to design the new headquarters building of the Chicago Tribune. He didn't win the contest, but his design received a lot of publicity and inspired other architects to explore the new, bold style.

In 1924, one of those other architects, Raymond Hood (he'd won the Chicago contest), designed the American Radiator Building in New York City, the structure usually regarded as the first Art Deco building in the United States. Soon Art Deco became a popular choice in major American cities, which at the time were experiencing a tremendous building boom. Through the 1930s, Art Deco was used on structures that became landmarks. In New York alone, famous skyscrapers like the Empire State Building (1931), the Chrysler Building (1930) and Rockefeller Center (1935), are all examples of Art Deco architecture.

Art Deco owed something to several of the major art styles of the early 20th century. These formative influences include the geometric forms of Cubism (Art Deco has been called "Cubism Tamed"), the machine-style forms of Constructivism and Futurism, and the unifying approach of Art Nouveau. Art Deco borrowed also from Aztec and Egyptian Art, as well as from Classical Antiquity. Unlike its earlier counterpart Art Nouveau, however, Art Deco had no philosophical basis - it was purely decorative.

After the First World War, art deco buildings of steel and reinforced concrete began to appear in large cities across Europe and the United States. In the United States the style was most commonly used for office buildings, government buildings, movie theaters, and railroad stations. It sometimes was combined with other styles; Los Angeles City Hall combined Art Deco with a roof based on the ancient Greek Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, while the station combinedDeco with Spanish mission architecture. 

In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, the Art Deco style became more subdued. New materials arrived, including chrome plating, stainless steel, and plastic. A sleeker form of the style, called Streamline Moderne, appeared in the 1930s; it featured curving forms and smooth, polished surfaces. Art Deco is one of the first truly international styles, but its dominance ended with the beginning of World War II and the rise of the strictly functional and unadorned styles of modern architecture and the International Style of architecture that followed.


Art Deco Characteristics and Materials


Art Deco architecture is very striking and looks different from earlier styles. You'll definitely notice it when you see it. Builders used new industrial materials like stucco, concrete and stainless steel. You can also find structures decorated with aluminum, chrome, opaque plate glass, and glass block.

In classic Art Deco, rectangular blocky forms were often arranged in a geometric fashion, then broken up by curved ornamental elements. But always the aim was a monolithic appearance with applied decorative motifs.


Art Deco @ Miami


The Miami Beach Architectural District is a U.S. history district (designated as such on May 14, 1979) located in the South Beach neighborhood of Miami Beach, Florida. In 1979, Miami Beach's Art Deco Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Art Deco District is the largest collection of Art Deco architecture in the world and contains hundreds of hotels, apartments and other structures erected between 1923 and 1943. The movement to preserve the Art Deco District's architectural heritage was led by former interior designer Barbara Baer Capitman, who now has a street in the District named in her honor.

Miami Beach, particularly Ocean Dive of what is now the Art Deco District, was also featured prominently in the 1983 feature film Scarface and the 1996 comedy The Birdcage.


Top 10 Art Deco Buildings in Miami Beach


· The Carlyle


· The Webster


· Colony Theatre


· The Breakwater


· Cadillac Hotel


· The McAlpin


· The Plymouth


· Jerry’s Famous Deli


· The Delano


· Bass Museum


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