Modern Building Styles, 1930-1940
Art Deco, 1930-40
Referred to by some as the “zigzag” phase of Art Moderne, this style relies upon stylized plant and animal motifs as well as hard-lined, angular geometric patterning in exterior and interior ornament. Influenced by the International Style, this modern style also derived its reliance upon ornamentation from the 1925 Paris Exposition des Arts Decoratifs.
Decorative parapets, echoing the effect of crenellation, surrounded the flat-roofed buildings of this style. Ornamentation in the form of panels, cornices, parapets, and window and door surrounds were composed of contrasting materials such as terra-cotta, colored glass, glass block, and various exposed metals. Large-scale monumental buildings often contained central towers, some of which were buttressed by side wings.
Characteristics:
--angular geometric decorative patterns
--vertical molded ornamentation
--tower suggestive of high-rise buildings
--central tower with stepped wings
--decorative parapet
--decorative cornice
--ornamental door and window surrounds
--metal sash windows
--polychromatic decorative glass or glazed brick
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