Architectural Styles: Art Deco

Time Square Building, Rochester, Built 1929.
Times Square Building, Rochester
Built 1929
 

Reynolds Arcade, Rochester, Built 1933.
Reynolds Arcade, Rochester
Built 1933
 

Art Deco style was popular in the period between the World Wars (1918-1939). In Rochester a number of Art Deco buildings were erected right around 1930.

Art Deco architects were interested in capturing a sense of modern machinery. Buildings were streamlined and angular. However, often these same architects borrowed geometric designs from ancient Egypt, Persia, and Assyria and incorporated them into the new buildings. This was the period when major archeological discoveries were made in Egypt, in particular the tomb of King Tut.  Art Deco style was used for furniture, appliances, decorative objects, and more.

Features:

  • Simple forms
  • Angular, geometric shapes
  • Black decoration
  • Streamlined forms based on aerodynamic principles

Medical Arts Building, Rochester, Built 1930.

Little Theatre, Rochester, Built 1929.
Left, Medical Arts Building, Rochester, built 1930; Right, Little Theatre, Rochester, built 1929

 

| Styles Introduction | Previous Style | Next Style |


Send comments to Webmaster
Copyright 2021
Monroe County (NY) Library System
115 South Avenue., Rochester, NY 14604