Get to know art deco

The style

What it is: Art Deco is a movement in style, fashion and architecture that took the late 1920s and 1930s Western world by storm. Coming into a civilization completely changed by one world war and the hint of another, an economic depression, opportunities for women and the rise of technology and the automobile, Art Deco celebrated modernism and rejected traditional styles. It was gradually replaced in the early 1940s with the decoration-free, iconoclastic International Style.

Characteristics

Form was streamlined and curvilinear, reflecting the increased speed and movement of cars.

Lines had a swept-back horizontality.

Decoration was simple with a deliberately manufactured look, including repetitive patterns, rigid geometry and parallel lines.

Flat or low-relief frieze decoration was often stylistically floral, such as palm fronds.

Materials were chosen for a modern and flat look, such as stucco and metal.

What the expert says

“The problem with Art Deco was that it came into fashion during the Depression era when there wasn’t much money,” says Michael Sullivan of Artifacts Consulting in Tacoma. “So there aren’t many buildings left. The decorative elements began in cars, fashion and furniture, and moved to architecture.”

Where to see the style here

The 1937 Olympia Greyhound bus station at Capitol Way and Seventh Avenue. An example of Art Moderne (an outgrowth of Art Deco), the building has characteristic curving long horizontal lines along its metallic overhang.

The Municipal Building, built in 1930, straddling Market Streets and St. Helens Avenue between Seventh and Ninth Streets in downtown Tacoma. Look for the soaring vertical peaks, upward lines and flat rectangular windows outside, then enter the St. Helens Avenue lobby to note the triangular elevator signs, bronze/black décor and vertical-effect set-backs, curvy parallel lines and stylized floral stair rails.

The private residence at the northeast corner of Tacoma Avenue and North Sixth Street in Tacoma, with a curved wall of glass bricks and a flat roof is, says Sullivan, “one of Tacoma’s better examples of Art Deco.”

The ferry M/V Kalakala, launched in 1935, is moored on Tacoma’s Hylebos Waterway, and exemplifies the Art Deco vision with its smooth, elliptically curved prow, symmetrical round windows and metallic sheen.

Other famous examples

The Hoover Dam and dams on the Columbia river, the Chrysler and Empire State buildings in New York, the MetLife Building in Seattle.

Rosemary Ponnekanti: 253-597-8568

rosemary.ponnekanti@thenewstribune.com

Michael Sullivan of Artifacts Consulting, www.artifacts-inc.com, helped with this article.

Editor’s note: This article is the first in an occasional series explaining architecture styles, as seen in prominent South Sound landmarks and homes.