Art Deco Architecture: Everything You Need to Know

Art Deco architecture is typically defined by the use of geometric shapes and volumes, and the buildings are often constructed from materials such as stucco, chrome, steel, decorative glass, terra-cotta, and aluminum. “It has zigzags, geometric patterns, stylized floral patterns, and especially vertical windows,” Robins says. “In fact, before they had a name for it, the architects who designed Art Deco buildings in New York called it the vertical style.” In America, particularly in New York City, the aesthetic began specifically as a skyscraper style before spreading to other types of buildings. “It really came together in a series of skyscrapers—maybe two dozen—designed by a handful of architects who all knew each other,” Robins says.

History of Art Deco architecture

To understand the Art Deco movement fully, one has to travel back to the early ’20s and the post–World War I society. “At this time all of these modernistic movements came out, and architects were deliberately turning their backs on the historicism that had come before,” Robins explains. The look was one of many styles that were seen as a way to embrace the future, though Art Deco specifically is generally traced to Paris and to the Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes, where it was first exhibited in 1925.

However, the style wasn’t named until years later. In 1966, curators of an exhibit at the Paris Museum of Decorative Arts put on an exhibition looking back at styles of the 1920s. “They had Bauhaus, International Style, and they also looked at the very influential exhibition from Paris,” Robins says. “They shortened that very long title, and voilà, Art Deco as an expression was born.”

Because of its widespread popularity, each city developed their own unique take on the look. In America, the style’s roots can largely be traced to New York City. “Until this point, American architects really tended to design their buildings with one eye looking over their left shoulder at Europe,” Robins explains. After World War I ended, the United States entered into the Roaring Twenties, “and New York emerges as this image of the brash, modern metropolis of the New World,” Robins explains. Here, Art Deco blossomed into a building aesthetic that didn’t look to copy or revise, but rather create anew. “It becomes this symbol. We’re no longer looking into the European past. We are looking to the American present and future.” It’s at this point that architects begin designing many of the most famous Art Deco buildings, like The Chrysler Building, that redefined the midtown Manhattan skyline before the style started spreading to other building types.

Because Art Deco came about around the same time as other modernist aesthetics, these styles are often credited as influencing the emergency of Deco. Art Nouveau and Bahaus often come up in the conversation, as does Cubism and Fauvism. “When they’re happening, there aren’t such clean lines between these movements,” Robins adds. “That’s how historians look back on it and say, ‘Here’s my chapter on Art Nouveau, here’s my chapter on Art Deco, here’s my chapter on the Bauhaus.’ There’s a lot of mushing around.”

Defining elements and characteristics of Art Deco architecture

According to Robins, there are four main characteristics to know when studying Art Deco architecture.

Consider the following characteristics seen in Art Deco buildings:

Art Deco buildings are often visible from any angle. Instead of appearing two-dimensional—the way many buildings look when placed directly next to each other—art deco buildings consistently appear three-dimensional. “One way you do this is by building skyscrapers that tower over the neighbors, but they also did more than that.” Robins says. “Architects would chamfer the corners or curve the corners, they’d use setbacks and other designs to give the sense of three dimensions.”

“The color on buildings is generally monotone and it’s often gray,” Robins says. “But that’s not the case for Art Deco buildings.” Art Deco design often employs the use of vibrant colors including yellow, green, red, and blue.

Ornamentation is a large part of the Art Deco ethos. “There are two basic kinds of Art Deco ornaments,” Robins says. Generally you’ll find either abstract geometric patterns—things like zigzags, chevrons, lighting bolts, or sunbursts—or stylized floral patterns. “That’s something that looks natural but wouldn’t actually find in nature like that.”

Even Art Deco buildings that aren’t skyscrapers have a sense of verticality. One of the main ways architects achieved this effect was through the use of vertical window treatments.

Famous Art Deco architecture examples and architects