Art Deco Architecture (plus Interior Design)

choi

On May 1, I posted Art Deco. In the following, boldface is what I add today.

Note: "And when he unveiled the new Tesla Robovan in October, he was clear about the inspiration for its sleek look. The 'Futuristic Art Deco Bus' was based on—you guessed it—'Art Deco trains.' "
(a) Tesla Robovan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Robovan
("A concept version of the autonomous electric Robovan was unveiled on 10 October 2024 at the 'We, Robot; event at Warner Brothers Studio in Los Angeles")
is not made yet. This is not Tesla Cybertruck, which has nothing to do with Art Deco.
(ii) The unveiling of Robovan and the centennial of the 1925 Paris exhibition prompts this article.
(b) Art Deco
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Deco
(section 12 Design: "Streamline was a variety of Art Deco which emerged during the mid-1930s. It was influenced by modern aerodynamic principles developed for aviation and ballistics to reduce aerodynamic drag 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.[61] One of the first production vehicles in this style was the Chrysler Airflow of 1933")
A photo in this section has the caption: "New York Central's 20th Century Limited Hudson 4-6-4 Streamlined locomotive (c 1939)."

20th Century Limited (1902-1967):  en.wikipedia.org for "20th Century Limited"
(i) But there is another Art Deco Locomotive: New York Central (Railroad) Mercury:
(ii) "The Art Deco Mercury streamlined trains were designed by the industrial artist Henry Dreyfuss in 1936. Mercury was the name of the Roman god of messengers making it a perfect identity for the grace and speed of these modern trains. There were several Mercury streamliners traveling at speeds of over 100 miles per hour delivering passengers from Chicago to Detroit and Cincinnati, along with other popular places throughout the midwest. The goal for the railroads was expanding the new streamlined service focusing on speed, comfort and innovation." from the Web.

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(1) Art Deco | Looking Sharp; A century after the exhibition that gave the style its name, Art Deco Is as fashionable as ever. The Economist, Apr 19, 2025, at page 72
("Art Deco buildings—such as the Tuschinski Theatre in Amsterdam, Eltham Palace in London or Grauman's Egyptian theatre in Los Angeles—are nothing short of visual delights")

Note:
(a)
(i) Tuschinski Theatre
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuschinski_Theatre
(opened in 1921; table: Type  Movie theatre; "The theatre was founded by Abraham Icek Tuschinski ['Dutch of of Jewish Polish descent': en.wikipedia.org under his name; namely, a jew of Poland who migrated to the Netherlands] * * * Tuschinski wanted to open the theatre with the first theatre organ [to accompany silent films] in the Netherlands" and did/ section 2 Architecture: "The facade blends several architectural styles: Art Deco, Art Nouveau, Jugendstil and the Amsterdam School.[15][16]   The building contains Asian influences")
(ii) Eltham Palace
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eltham_Palace
(table: Architectural style        Art Deco interior)

Quote:

"The house is owned by the Crown Estate and managed by English Heritage [note the present tense]"

There was a palace for centuries, which was ruined during English Civil War; "the Art Deco interior of the house has been described as a 'masterpiece of modern design' [which described the civilian house rebuilt in 1830s; see next] * * * Eltham was bestowed by Charles II on John Shaw and in its ruinous condition * * * The current house was built in the 1930s [see next] * * * In 1933, Stephen Courtauld and his wife Virginia 'Ginie' Courtauld (née Peirano) acquired a 99-year lease on the palace site and commissioned Seely & Paget to restore the [great] hall [of the original palace] and create a modern home attached to it. * * * The home was decorated internally in the Art Deco style. * * * In September 1940 he was on duty on the Great Hall roof as a fire watcher when it was badly damaged by German incendiary bombs. In 1944, the Courtauld family moved to Scotland then to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), giving the palace to the Royal Army Educational Corps in March 1945"

(A) Compare the top photo (which has the entrance hall in the center) with the leftmost photo in section 1 History, section 1.1 1300–1930, one can tell that the (triangular) pitched roof on the left of the former is the great hall.
(B) "Eltham Palace Greenwich 1930_Rolf Engströmer" that appears in Pinterest (floor plan attached at the bottom)
(C) The Economist means to say that the rebuilt Eltham Palace has Art Deco architecture also, not just interior design (as Wikipedia suggests). Indeed, its architecture is Art Deco. See
The Partners: Seely and Paget. English Heritage (a civilian group of volunteers), undated
https://www.english-heritage.org ... t-at-eltham-palace/
("John Seely and Paul Paget were partners both in life and in one of the most noteworthy architectural firms of the interwar years. Having met at university, they went into business together in their early twenties and lived and worked together until Seely’s death. * * * Their architectural masterpiece was their transformation of Eltham Palace, a medieval palace on the outskirts of London, into an art deco mansion, completed in 1936")
, whose photo shows the façade of the entrance hall.

(D) Back to the top photo showcasing the entrance hall. The door is framed by Tudor curved or rounded-headed limestone arch (which is not Art Deco, but Tudor architecture; so some commentator say that entrance hall is a marriage of both architectures).

The interior wall of entrance hall has "black bean veneer." For black bean, see Castanospermum
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castanospermum
(tableL Family  Fabaceae)
(iii) Grauman's Egyptian theatre
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grauman%27s_Egyptian_Theatre
(opened in 1922)

section 2 Architecture and design: "The exterior of the Egyptian features Egyptian Revival architecture. However, the roof panels above the main entrance are in a Mediterranean, not ancient Egyptian, style.[8] The theater was designed with an Egyptian theme due to public fascination with Howard Carter's expeditions searching for the tomb of Tutankhamun [found in November 1922]

(A) Judging from photos in this Wiki page, one can see two square facades on the roadside, extending back in a courtyard to a theater (fronted by four massive pillars)  with roof tiles.
(B) Cinemas Paradiso; A number of the world's most glamorous Art Deco theaters remain emblems of our cinematic dreams. Prior ('a luxury tour operator'), March 5, 2021
https://priorworld.com/editorial ... und-the-world-prior
("Los Angeles: Grauman's Egyptian Theatre[:] No cinema better evokes Hollywood's Deco-era lore like the Grauman's Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles. Built in downtown LA in 1928, it was designed in a Deco-meets-Pharaonic style now known as Neo-Egyptian, with hieroglyphs inside and out, along with four massive columns fronting the theater's main entrance—each more than 20 feet wide. Home to the first-ever movie premiere [and first red carpet] (Robin Hood in 1922), it's now owned, of course, by Netflix, which intends to use the space for special film events")
(C) Also known as neo-Egyptian, Egyptian Revival architecture
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_Revival_architecture
is Egyptian plus something else, which, in the instance of Grauman's Egyptian theatre, is Art Deco. Another way to say it is Art Deco with Egyptian influence.
(D) The ceiling of the theatre proper has a sunburst pattern. Check out images.google.com after you reach the end of this posting.

(b) Art Deco
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Deco
(section 9 Architecture)
View photos only.
(i) National Diet  国会
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Diet
("Both houses meet in the National Diet Building (国会議事堂)" )
(ii)
(A) diet (assembly)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diet_(assembly)
(of "Holy Roman Empire), as well as a designation for modern-day legislative bodies of certain countries and states such as the National Diet of Japan, or the German Bundestag, the Federal Diet"_
(B) diet (n 2): " * * * Since c 1600 used by English and French writers of the legislative assemblies of Germany and Austria"
https://www.etymonline.com/word/diet

(c) Building E52 (address 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA) of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, former heart and headquarters (which are now housed in building E62) of its Sloan School of Management (created in 1931 and sponsored by GM CEO Alfred P Sloan), was Sloan Building that was renamed in 2016 after the Changs donated millions (nothing in the Web says how much). See Morris and Sophie Chang Building renovation, E52. Capital Project. MIT, undated
https://capitalprojects.mit.edu/projects/building-e52-renovation
("An Art Deco landmark along the Charles River, Building E52 was designed by Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon, the architects of the Empire State Building [which is also Art Deco]in New York City, and constructed in 1938 as the Massachusetts headquarters for the Lever Brothers Company. Purchased by MIT in the early 1950s, it became the first home of MIT’s School of Industrial Management (later renamed the MIT Sloan School of Management)" )

(d)
(i) Art Deco Style 1925 - 1940. In PHMC Pennsylvania Architectural Field Guide.  Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission (PHMC), undated
https://www.phmc.state.pa.us/por ... tyles/art-deco.html
("The Art Deco style is one of the easiest to identify since its sharp-edged looks and stylized geometrical decorative details are so distinctive. The development of this architectural style was an intentional break with past precedents in an effort to embody the ideas of the modern age. It was the first American architectural style to look forward rather than back, as the case with the preceding revival styles. Some architectural historians refer to the Art Deco style as 'Modernistic' leading to some confusion between Art Deco style buildings and Art Moderne style buildings, both of which can be described as Modernistic. Since the Art Deco and Art Moderne styles are distinctively different in appearance, each style is described separately in this field guide. Both styles were part of the Modern Movement in architecture in the early 20th century, a conscious break with past revival precedents in architecture. The Art Deco style first gained public attention in 1922 in a design competition for the Chicago Tribune Headquarters. Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen submitted an Art Deco design that was not chosen, but was widely publicized and embraced as an exciting new architectural style")
(ii) Eliel Saarinen's Tribune Tower design
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El ... ribune_Tower_design
(1922 -- 3 years before Paris exhibition)


(2) Do you see commonality (in architecture)? I did not. So I did research.
(a) Arricca Elin Sansone, Here's What to Know About Art Deco Architecture. ELLE Decor, Mar 8, 2024
https://www.elledecor.com/life-c ... -deco-architecture/

Quote:

(i) "Ask three historians to define the term Art Deco, and you'll likely get three varying answers. That’s because Art Deco is many different things to many different people, and its evolution is as unique as its expression in architecture, interior design, decorative arts, and fashion.

"One concept most experts agree on is that Art Deco defies narrow descriptions. 'The style encompasses all kinds of architectural trends from the 1920s to the 1940s, though it often refers to the vertical style of the 1920s,' says Anthony W. Robins, vice president of the Art Deco Society of New York and author of New York City Art Deco: A Guide to Gotham’s Jazz Age Architecture.

(ii) "Interestingly, it wasn't actually called Art Deco until much later. The term was coined in 1966, based on the name of an influential design exposition, the International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts of 1925, says Robins.

(iii) " [:] Although Art Deco encompasses a range of seemingly disparate elements, there are obvious features that make a building an example of Art Deco. While not every building will include every feature, these are the hallmarks common to most Art Deco buildings, say Robins and Starita:

• 360-degree design: The building typically can be viewed “in the round,” from all sides, almost like a piece of abstract sculpture.
• Verticality: Uninterrupted bays of windows are stacked vertically, often recessed behind tall stripes of brick or other materials.
• Color: Varying shades of brick, terra-cotta, or gleaming metal add brilliant hues to exterior design.
• New materials: New alloys allowed the use of rust-proof metals on the exterior of buildings.
• Stylized ornamentation and geometric patterns: Zigzags, lightening bolts, sunrises, stylized florals, geometric curves, and designs inspired by Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Aztec, Mayan, and other cultures are key Art Deco motifs.
• Industrial imagery and symbology: Corporate imagery showcased the building’s purpose in a sort of giant advertisement for the clients.

Note:
(i) Elle Decor is a magazine that is part of family of Elle (magazine)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elle_(magazine)
(ii) "Verticality: Uninterrupted bays of windows are stacked vertically, often recessed behind tall stripes of brick or other materials." This is true if you peer closely.
(A) For "bays of windows," see
• bay window
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_window
("forming a bay in a room. A bow window is a form of bay with a curve rather than angular facets")
• An example: Chrysler Building
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_Building
(a photo with the caption: "View from one of the north-facing triangular windows" demonstrating a bow window at the steel top of the building.
(B) On the other hand, if MIT E52 is art deco (it probably is), a building with which I am familiar, then many building with regularly spaced windows are, too -- except those of brick (failing the material requirement).  
(b) "Stepped form" is a hallmark of Art Deco architecture. Recall National Diet Building of Japan, as well as Eliel Saarinen's Tribune Tower design
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El ... ribune_Tower_design  
(section 3 Buildings influenced: JPMorgan Chase Building (Houston): "its stepped profile" + "New York Daily News headquarters is a modernist stepback building")
(c) Other characteristics of Art Deco architecture is zigzag, forming triangle or chevron. Search images.giigle.com with (zigzag art deco).

(3) Art Deco interior design includes stepped form and zigzag, plus sunburst. Search images.giigle.com with (sunburst art deco).