 EXPRESSIONIST ARCHITECTURE was

an architectural movement that

developed in Europe during the first
decades of the 20th century in parallel
with the expressionist visual and
performing arts.
 The term "Expressionist architecture"
initially described the activities of the
German, Dutch, Austrian, Czech and
Danish AVANT GARDE from 1910 until
ca. 1924.
 Subsequent redefinitions extended the
term backwards to 1905 and also
widened it to encompass the rest of
Europe.
The style was characterised by an EARLY-
MODERNIST adoption of
 NOVEL MATERIALS
 FORMAL INNOVATION
 VERY UNUSUAL MASSING, INSPIRED BY
NATURAL BIOMORPHIC FORMS OR BY
NEW TECHNICAL POSSIBILITIES OFFERED
BY THE MASS PRODUCTION OF BRICK,
STEEL, AND GLASS.
 Many expressionist architects fought in World
War I and their experiences, combined with
the political turmoil and social upheaval that
followed the German Revolution of 1919,
resulted in a UTOPIAN OUTLOOK and a
ROMANTIC SOCIALIST AGENDA.

 UTOPIA is an ideal community or society

possessing a perfect socio-politico-legal
system.
 Economic conditions severely limited the
number of built commissions between 1914
and the mid 1920s, resulting in many of the
most important expressionist works
remaining as projects on paper, such as
BRUNO TAUT's Alpine
Architecture and HERMANN
FINSTERLIN's Formspiels. Ephemeral
exhibition buildings were numerous and
highly significant during this period.
 Economic conditions severely limited the
number of built commissions between 1914
and the mid 1920s, resulting in many of the
most important expressionist works
remaining as projects on paper, such as
BRUNO TAUT's Alpine
Architecture and HERMANN
FINSTERLIN's Formspiels. Ephemeral
exhibition buildings were numerous and
highly significant during this period.
 Important events in expressionist
architecture include; the WERKBUND
EXHIBITION (1914) in Cologne, the
completion and theatrical running of
the Grosses Schauspielhaus, Berlin in 1919,
the Glass Chain letters, and the activities of
the Amsterdam School.
 The major permanent extant landmark of
Expressionism is Erich Mendelsohn's Einstein
Tower in Potsdam.
 By 1925 most of the leading architects of
Expressionism such as; BRUNO TAUT, ERICH
MENDELSOHN, WALTER GROPIUS, MIES
VAN DER ROHE and HANS POELZIG, along
with other Expressionists in the visual arts,
had turned toward the Neue
Sachlichkeit (NEW OBJECTIVITY) movement,
a more practical and matter-of-fact approach
which rejected the emotional agitation of
expressionism.
 The NEW OBJECTIVITY (Neue Sachlichkeit)
art movement arose in direct opposition to
expressionism.

 A few, notably HANS SCHAROUN,continued

to work in an expressionist idiom.
 In 1933, after the Nazi seizure of power in
Germany, expressionist art was outlawed
as DEGENERATE ART. Until the 1970s
scholars commonly played down the
influence of the expressionists on the
later International style, but this has been re-
evaluated in recent years.
 The Amsterdam School is an
expressionist style of architecture
that arose from 1910 through about
1930 in The Netherlands. The
Amsterdam School movement is
part of international Expressionist
architecture.
Buildings of the Amsterdam School are
characterized by:

 BRICK CONSTRUCTION WITH

COMPLICATED MASONRY WITH A
ROUNDED OR ORGANIC APPEARANCE

 RELATIVELY TRADITIONAL MASSING

 THE INTEGRATION OF AN ELABORATE
SCHEME OR BUILDING ELEMENTS INSIDE
AND OUT:
 decorative masonry,
 art glass,
 wrought ironwork
 spires
 "ladder" windows (with horizontal bars)
 integrated architectural sculpture
 The aim was to create a total architectural
experience, interior and exterior.
 The Amsterdam School had
its origins in the office of
architect EDUARD
CUYPERS in Amsterdam.
Although Cuypers wasn't a
progressive architect
himself, he gave his
employees plenty of
opportunity to develop.
 . The three leaders of the Amsterdam School
MICHEL DE KLERK, JOHAN VAN DER MEY
and PIET KRAMER all worked for Cuypers
until about 1910. Impetus for the movement
also came from the city.
 In 1905 Amsterdam was the first city to
establish a building code, and the city hired
Johan van der Mey afterwards, in the special
position as "Aesthetic Advisor", to bring
artistic unity and vision to its built
environment.
 Van der Mey's major commission, the 1912
cooperative-
commercial SCHEEPVAARTHUIS (Shipping
House), is considered the starting point of the
movement.
 Van der Mey sought the assistance of his
former colleague-architects Michel de
Klerk andPiet Kramer, and another architect
named A.D.N. van Gendt was responsible for
engineering the concrete structure.
 The Scheepvaarthuis is the prototype for
later Amsterdam School work. The most
important examples are obviously found
in Amsterdam. The movement and its
followers played an important role in
Berlage's overall plans for the expansion of
Amsterdam.
 The most important and productive member of
the Amsterdam school was Michel de Klerk.
Other members of the Amsterdam School
included Jan Gratama (who gave it its
name), Berend Tobia Boeyinga, P. H. Endt, H. Th.
Wijdeveld, J. F. Staal, C. J. Blaauw, and P. L.
Marnette. The journal Wendingen ("Windings" or
"Changes"), published between 1918 and 1931,
was considered the magazine of the Amsterdam
School.
 After De Klerk died in 1923 the style lost most
of its importance.
 The De Bijenkorf department-store in the
Hague by Piet Kramer of 1926 is considered
to be the last example of "classic" Amsterdam
School expressionism.
 Moderate variants of the style survived until
the Second World War, for example in
Protestant church architecture.
 Imbued with socialist ideals, the
AMSTERDAM SCHOOL STYLE was often
applied to working-class housing estates,
local institutions and schools.
 For many Dutch towns HENDRIK
BERLAGE designed the new urban schemes,
while the architects of the Amsterdam School
were responsible for the buildings.
 The members of WENDIGEN lived and
worked in AMSTERDAM. Their designs owed
much to the work of H.P. BERLAGE (1856-
1934) and stressed THE HANDICRAFT
PROCESS OF BUILDING, THE REVELATION
OF STRUCTURE, AND THE RESULTING
DETAIL.
 BERLAGE is known for
his AMSTERDAM
STOCK EXCHANGE, a
brick and stone
bearing-wall structure
of medieval
inspiration, but one
with a skylit iron-truss
roof over the stock-
exchange floor.
 While the Stock Exchange was conceived
quite rationally by Berlage, he had a number
of influences namely:
 GOTTFRIED SEMPER
 P.J.H. CUIPERS, a designer in the brick
tradition of Amsterdam
 VIOLLET-LE-DUC.
 The Stock Exchange’s Ruskinian expression of
building materials, particularly through the
colors and textures of its carefully composed
wall surfaces, provided a starting point for
Wendigen explorations.
 In 1901 Berlage was commissioned by the
City of Amsterdam to lay out residential
neighborhoods in the area called Amsterdam
South.
 His proposals for two-story walk-ups of brick,
with the street as the primary organizing
element, provided the environment for
buildings by such designers as PIET KRAMER
(1881-1961) and MICHAEL DE KLERK (1884-
1923).
 KRAMER, an outgoing personality with an
interest in the occult as well as Communist
sympathies, designed his units for the DE
DAGERAAD HOUSING ASSOCIATION in
1918-23.

 He used brick to make taut planar and

bulging curvilinear walls
 Inserted
grid-like
windows
with avian
overtones,
 and applied roof tiles and copings to produce
aggressive, prickly silhouettes.
 The single most important example of the
Amsterdam School style is HET SCHIP,
designed by de Klerk.
 DE KLERK was perhaps the
most talented and original
among the Dutch
Expressionists. His project
for the EIGEN HAARD
housing association (1921)
is more plastic than
Kramer’s work, its
silhouette more irregular,
and its detailing more
highly textured.
 De Klerk’s abilities went well beyond the
treatment of surfaces, however, as his
HOUSING ON THE HENRIETTA
RONNERPLEIN (1921) demonstrates.
 Here, he manipulated BATTERED WALLS,
LINKING CHIMNEYS, AND COMPOSITE
WINDOWS to produce a three-dimensional
architecture that is among the most original
and provocative of the early 20th century.
DECORATIVE BRICKWORK

STAIRCASE WINDOWS
LADDERWINDOWS
HOUSE NUMBER
PLAQUETTE
 The building is solid
brick with a rhythmic
pattern of four stairwell
towers which jut out
slightly from the front
façade. They rise above
the roof-line with
unusual parabolic
gables, framed by
canted vertical blocks
resembling chimney
stacks.
 Het Schip ("The Ship") is an apartment building in the
Spaarndammerbuurt district of Amsterdam, built in
the architectural style of the Amsterdam
School of Expressionist architecture. It is the single
most important example of this style of architecture,
using the Brick Expressionism version.
 The building was designed by Michel de Klerk. The
building vaguely resembles the outlines of a ship. Its
appearance is very unconventional from all angles.
Designed in 1919, the building contains 102 homes for
the working class, a small meeting hall and a post
office, which as of 2001 is the museum of the
Amsterdam School.
 German expressionism was more diverse
than the Dutch, concerned with both FORM
and UTOPIANISM. Central to much German
Expressionist thinking was the writing of
PAUL SCHEERBART and his vision for a glass
or crystalline architecture that would
somehow ameliorate the repressive opacity
of modern culture.
 In part a reaction against the directions being
pursued by the state-run DEUTSCHE
WERKBUND, the counter-proposals of
German Expressionism appeared
dramatically at the 1914 Werkbund Exhibtion
in Cologne where HENRI VAN DE VELDE’s
WERKBUND THEATER explored the theme of
KUNSTWOLLEN, or the will to form, in
contrast to the mechanistic type-form
precepts of mainstream Werkbund thinking.
 BRUNO TAUT’s GLASS PAVILION gave
physical reality to Scheerbart’s
proclamations.

 Taut’s Glass Pavilion was quite formal in its

organization: a circular concrete base with
central, axial stair; a circular rotunda, and a
dome.
 Taut so thoroughly exploited the possibilities
of glass that the building became a kind of
walk-in prism.

 Glass walls, glass treads and risers, glass

panels in the dome, all filtered and reflected
light and color to produce a space intended at
once to display glass as a product of industrial
production and to nourish the human spirit.
 Perhaps the most idiosyncratic of all built
German Expressionist work was the
GOETHEANUM designed by an amateur,
RUDOLF STEINER (1861-1925).
 A philosopher, scholar and student of the occult,
Steiner founded the Anthroposophical Society in
1912 and set out to build a “free high school for
spiritual science” called GOETHEANUM, so
connecting his thinking to the writings of
Goethe.
 A philosopher, scholar and student of the
occult, Steiner founded the Anthroposophical
Society in 1912 and set out to build a FREE
HIGH SCHOOL FOR SPIRIT SCIENCE called
the Goetheanum, so connecting his thinking
to the writings of GOETHE.
 There were in fact, two GOETHEANIUMS,
both in Domach, the first built of wood in
1913 and destroyed by fire at the end of 1922,
and the second of concrete, which opened in
1928. GOETHEANIUM I can be compared to
Van de Velde’s WERKBUND THEATER; it was
dominated by CURVILINEAR SHAPES, many
that seemed melted and deformed.
 Underlying this deformity, however, was a
SYMMETRICAL PLAN COMPOSED OF
INTERLOCKING CIRCLES, and the ROOFS
WERE LIKE MANY TRADITIONAL GERMAN
PROFILES, intended to shed snow.
 GOETHEANUM II, which was also
SYMMETRICAL IN PLAN, is more
SCULPTURAL and FACETED, with the most
fantastic part of the complex being the
boilerhouse with its VEGETAL CHIMNEY
STACK.
 The EINSTEIN TOWER in Potsdam (1920-21)
and the design for a HAT FACTORY in
Luckenwalde (1921-23) by ERICH
MENDELSOHN (1887-1953) offer yet another
Expressionistic approach to architecture.
 The dynamic qualities of the EINSTEIN
TOWER, built of brick covered with stucco,
demonstrate MENDELSOHN’s interest in
streamlined forms, with little connection to
the Italian Futurists, but certainly a kinship to
Van de Velde’s Werkbund Theater and with
the Secessionist productions of Joseph Maria
Olbrich.
 Mendelsohn exploited the metaphorical
qualities in his hat factory design. Here he
produced a scheme appropriate both to the
realities of industrial manufacturing and the
spirit of German economic aspirations.
 The ADMINISTRATION BUILDING has a DE
STIJL quality, with its assymetrical
composition of orthogonal shapes, but in the
PRODUCTION FACILITIES, Mendelsohn
exploited structural and mechanical systems
to produce logical but highly provocative
forms.
 The rigid frame supporting the WORKSHOP
inspired a rhythmic composition of triangles
on the exterior, and the VENTILATING
HOODS of the dry vats are both purposeful
and evocative.
 Another German Expressionist monument is
HANS POEZIG’s (1869-1936) WATER TOWER
at Posen (1911).
 The skin of the tower is faceted and highly
textured, with disparate masonry and glazing
patterns. Beneath the water reservoir,
Poelzig designed an exhibit hall that he
planned to be converted into a market hall.
The tower is a combination of purpose and
fantasy.
 ART DECO, then known as L’ART
MODERNE, thrived in France from 1910,
and it continued to be popular in
America, especially for skyscrapers and
theaters, through the 1930’s, into the
World War II era.
 Art Deco was a movement in search of
newness for a new century.

 Its LINEAR SYMMETRY was a distinct

departure from the flowing
asymmetrical organic curves of its
predecessor style ART NOUVEAU.
 However, its inspirations were eclectic and
extreme:

 CUBISM – overlapping and faceted shapes

 RUSSIAN CONSTRUCTIVISM – the language of
mechanization
 FUTURISM – a fascination with motion
 MOTIFS are from ancient Egypt, Africa, the
Orient, Aztecs. Decorative ideas came from
the American Indian, Egyptian, Mayan and
Aztec cultures, and ancient Greece and
Rome.
 MOTIFS :
 STYLIZED FLOWERS, FRONDS
 COILED TENDRILS
 SCALLOPS
 FACETED GEOMETRIES INCLUDING
CHEVRON, ZIGZAG PATTERNS
 STYLIZED, IDEALIZED HEROIC HUMAN
FIGURES
 The most famous Art Deco
skyscraper is the CHRYSLER
BUILDING in New York (1928),
designed by WILLIAM VAN ALEN
(1883-1954).
 Its crown-like dome of stainless
steel, with tiered arches filled with
sunbursts and capped with a spire,
remains a classic for skyline-
makers.
 Its other notable
ornamental features
include EAGLE
GARGOYLES and the
famous RADIATOR-
CAP ACROTERIA and
adjacent FRIEZE OF
ABSTRACTED CAR
WHEELS.
 New Yorks’s most prolific Art Deco designer
was ELY JACQUES KAHN (1884-1972), whose
career spanned some 50 years.
Representative of his output is the building
NUMBER TWO PARK AVENUE (1927), with its
wealth of FACETED and GEOMETRIC DETAIL
both inside and out.
 In 1929-30, RAYMOND HOOD (1881-1934)
designed the NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
BUILDING in New York, which displays
incised decorative panels of Art Deco
inspiration and includes a subtle color palette
of greens and terracottas – colors outside the
range of European Modernist dicta.
 HOOD and FOUILHOUX, along with other
firms, designed the complex of buildings
comprising the ROCKEFELLER CENTER
(begun 1929) and located within it a
significant body of public art, including Art
Deco sculpture by a variety of artists and the
famous DIEGO RIVERA fresco that was
destroyed soon after completion because of
its sympathetic treatment of communism.
 An artwork in itself s RADIO CITY MUSIC
HALL, with its plush furniture and lush
materials and lighting.
 The tallest structure of the period was the
EMPIRE STATE BUILDING (1931) by
RICHMOND SHREVE (1877-1946), WILLIAM
LAMB (1883-1952), and ARTHUR HARMON
(1878-1958).
 Its Art Deco ornament includes a vast number
of SANDBLASTED ALUMINUM SPANDREL
PANELS with ZIGZAG ORNAMENTATION.
 In Los Angeles, Art Deco buildings took two
forms: the so-called
 ZIG-ZAG MODERNE
 and the STREAMLINE MODERNE.
 ZIGZAG MODERNE was highly
decorative with the façade of zigzag
buildings adorned with geometric
ornamentation from which it gets its
name.
 While a few dwellings were designed in
the Zigzag Moderne style, it was
primarily used for large public and
commercial buildings, especially hotels,
movie theaters, restaurants,
skyscrapers, and department stores.
 The style required expensive and exotic
materials that were artistically designed
and skillfully applied by artisans. It was
largely a system of ornamentation
applied to smooth building surfaces.
 Decoration was often completed in a
luxurious assortment of materials,
including exotic wood veneers, marble,
painted terra-cotta, and metals.
 The principal characteristics of Zigzag
Moderne are:
 SMOOTH SURFACED VOLUMES
 WINDOWS ARRANGED IN SUNKEN
VERTICAL PANELS
 FREQUENT USE OF CENTRAL TOWER,
WHOSE SUMMIT RECEDES IN A STEPPED
PATTERN
 FLAT ROOF
 SYMMETRY AND BALANCE FOR EACH
ELEVATION
 TENDENCY FOR BUILDINGS TO BE
MONUMENTAL, FORMAL AND HEAVY
 ORNAMENTATION OF ZIGZAGS,
CHEVRONS, SPIRALS, AND STYLIZED
PLANT AND ANIMAL MOTIFS.
 SMITH HOUSE - One of the few Zigzag
Moderne houses in the area in the Los
Angeles area and probably one of the
greatest. It is very elegant in an extremely
elegant neighborhood. Paris would be proud
of it."
 STREAMLINE MODERNE looked to a better
future.
 Homes were built in the Streamline Moderne
style, but commercial structures-gas stations,
diners, bus terminals, stores-were more
modest than in the Zigzag style.
 Features of the Streamline Moderne style
include:
 AERODYNAMIC CURVES AND FLOWING FORMS
 EMPHASIS ON SIMPLE LINES AND A VERY
CLEAN LOOK
 LONG HORIZONTAL LINES
 SMOOTH AND CURVED WALL SURFACES
 NAUTICAL ELEMENTS SUCH AS PORTHOLES
AND STEEL RAILINGS, OFTEN MARKED BY A
SIGNATURE TRIO OF HORIZONTAL SPEED
STRIPES SUGGESTING MOTION
 Use of new materials, such as glass block,
chrome, vitrolite, stainless steel, and neon
signage
 Flat roofs with ledge coping
 Horizontal bands of windows, often steel
casement, set flush with wall surfaces
 Elements in groups of three
 Along with architecture, Streamline Moderne
was a style that industrial designers applied
to everything, including cars, trains, movie
sets, furniture, fashion design, and household
appliances.

 The style quickly went out of fashion during

World War II, but there was a renewed
interest in Art Deco design in the late 1960s.
 The WILTERN
HOTEL (1931)
and PANTAGES
(1929) theaters
have facades of
stepped-back
vertical pylons
interspersed
with ornamental
spandrel panels.
 Their interiors are a riot SUNBURST and
FACETED GEOMETRIC MOTIFS, including
PRISM-LIKE MIRRORS and PRISMATIC FAN
VAULTS.
 The COCA-COLA BOTTLING PLANT (1936)
by ROBERT DERRAH (1895-1946), actually a
remodelling, illustrates the STREAMLINE
MODERNE.
 It includes NAUTICAL MOTIFS such as
PORTHOLE WINDOWS, HATCH-LIKE
DOORWAYS, and OFFICES REACHED BY
WAY OF A PROMENADE DECK.
 A particularly rich body of Art Deco work can
be found at Miami Beach, Florida, where the
international idiom was fused with a local
color palette and adapted to the subtropical
climate.
 These modestly scaled buildings are
PAINTED IN VIVID PINKS, GREENS,
PEACHES and LAVENDERS that would be
garish inland but are delightful here, and are
often outfitted with STRONGLY
HORIZONTAL SUNSCREENS and
BALCONIES and punctuated with
DRAMATICALLY VERTICAL ENTRY BAYS and
STAIR TOWERS.
 Decoration includes stock Art Deco motifs
such as SUNBURSTS, but extends to local
FLORA and FAUNA, including the ubiquitous
MIAMI PALMS and FLAMINGOS.
 The Miami Beach Art Deco District

The Art Deco District in Miami Beach contains the largest concentration of 1920s and 1930s
resort architecture in the world.These vibrantly colored buildings represent an era when Miami
was heavily promoted and developed as a "tropical playground." The Art Deco District was one of
the earliest National Register listings to recognize the importance of the architecture of this
period
(continue reading: South Beach Art Deco Tours).

Architectural Styles
Vernacular Style: 1900-1930's
Vernacular is not a style, but rather a common method of early construction in South Florida. The
materials and forms encompassed wood frame and masonry construction. These materials and
methods were transferred from abroad with the Beach's early settlers. Through time, many of
these structures were replaced.
Wood Frame construction was most evident in the earliest days of Ocean Beach and reflected a
secluded resort-like character.

Wood Frame construction was most evident in the earliest days of Ocean Beach and reflected a
secluded resort-like character.
Noted for stark simplicity, vernacular structures are usually rectilinear in form with little or no
elaboration. Functional elements supply the only elaboration or decoration except that
occasionally modest Classical elements were referenced such as the engaged pilasters that were
seen on the Atlantic Hotel at 112 Ocean Drive, built in 1915. Most are one and two stories in
height with flat, gable or hipped roof and a single story porch extending across the front.
Bungalow Style: 1910's - 1930's
Bungalows were a popular in Ocean Beach from the earliest development years through the
1930s. Many of these simple structures may have been constructed from mail order house plans
gotten from catalogues, but others were designed by local architects as distinguished as V. H.
Nellenbogen.
Typically, bungalows were of wood frame construction, one to one and a half stories in height,
with gable roofs, overhanging eaves, front porches , and large wood sash windows. They afforded
good cross ventilation, a shaded outdoor area, and adapted well to South Florida coastal
conditions, generally being elevated two to three feet above grade on foundation walls or
masonry piers.
Mediterranean Revival Style: 1910's - 1930's


Mediterranean Revival Style: 1910's - 1930's

Mediterranean Revival architecture was the "style of choice" for the first major boom period in Ocean Beach. It's connotation of Mediterranean
resort architecture, combining expressions of Italian, Moorish, North African and Southern Spanish themes, was found to be an appropriate and
commercially appealing image for the new Floridian seaside resort.
During the mid 1910s through the early 1930s the style was applied to hotels, apartment buildings, commercial structures, and even modest
residences. Its architectural vocabulary was characterized by stucco walls, low pitched terra cotta and historic Cuban tile roofs, arches, scrolled or
tile capped parapet walls and articulated door surrounds, sometimes utilizing Spanish Baroque decorative motifs and Classical elements. Feature
detailing was occasionally executed in keystone.
Mediterranean Revival - Art Deco Transitional: 1920's - 1930's
"Med-Deco" in Ocean Beach was a synthesis of Mediterranean Revival form and A Art Deco decorative detail. This unique hybrid style became a
fascinating bridge between the "familiar" and the "new" as the allure of Art Deco found its way into the Beach's architectural vocabulary. Clean
ziggurat roof lines and crisp geometric detailing replaced scrolled parapets, bracketed cornices and Classical features on structures of clear
Mediterranean Revival form. Likewise, sloped barrel tile roofs rested gracefully on edifices with spectacular Art Deco entrances and facade
treatments.
Some of the most celebrated architects in Miami Beach designed structures in this brief-lived style, including V. H. Nellenbogen, Henry Hohauser
and T. Hunter Henderson.
The predominant exterior material of Med-Deco was smooth stucco with raised o r incised details. Featured stucco areas were often patterned or
scored. Keystone, either natural or filled and colored, was frequently used to define special elements. Windows ranged from wood and steel
casement to wood double hung.
Art Deco Style: late 1920's - 1930's


Mediterranean Revival Style: 1910's - 1930's

Mediterranean Revival architecture was the "style of choice" for the first major boom period in Ocean Beach. It's connotation of Mediterranean resort architecture, combining
expressions of Italian, Moorish, North African and Southern Spanish themes, was found to be an appropriate and commercially appealing image for the new Floridian seaside resort.
During the mid 1910s through the early 1930s the style was applied to hotels, apartment buildings, commercial structures, and even modest residences. Its architectural vocabulary
was characterized by stucco walls, low pitched terra cotta and historic Cuban tile roofs, arches, scrolled or tile capped parapet walls and articulated door surrounds, sometimes utilizing
Spanish Baroque decorative motifs and Classical elements. Feature detailing was occasionally executed in keystone.
Mediterranean Revival - Art Deco Transitional: 1920's - 1930's
"Med-Deco" in Ocean Beach was a synthesis of Mediterranean Revival form and A Art Deco decorative detail. This unique hybrid style became a fascinating bridge between the
"familiar" and the "new" as the allure of Art Deco found its way into the Beach's architectural vocabulary. Clean ziggurat roof lines and crisp geometric detailing replaced scrolled
parapets, bracketed cornices and Classical features on structures of clear Mediterranean Revival form. Likewise, sloped barrel tile roofs rested gracefully on edifices with spectacular
Art Deco entrances and facade treatments.
Some of the most celebrated architects in Miami Beach designed structures in this brief-lived style, including V. H. Nellenbogen, Henry Hohauser and T. Hunter Henderson.
The predominant exterior material of Med-Deco was smooth stucco with raised o r incised details. Featured stucco areas were often patterned or scored. Keystone, either natural or
filled and colored, was frequently used to define special elements. Windows ranged from wood and steel casement to wood double hung.
Art Deco Style: late 1920's - 1930's
Art Deco is considered one of the first twentieth century architectural styles in America to break with traditional revival forms. It emanated largely from the impact of the 1925 Paris
Exposition des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes, a design fair celebrating the reconciliation between the decorative arts and advancements in technology and industry.
Building forms in the Art Deco style were typically angular and clean, with stepped back facades, symmetrical or asymmetrical massing and strong vertical accenting. The preferred
decorative language included geometric patterns, abstracted natural forms, modern industrial symbols and ancient cultural motifs employing Mayan, Egyptian and Indigenous
American themes.
In Ocean Beach a unique form of Art Deco employed nautical themes as well as tropical floral and fauna motifs. Ocean liners, palm trees, and flamingos graced the exteriors and
interiors of the new local architecture. The favored materials for executing this distinctive "art" decor included bas-relief stucco, keystone, etched glass, a variety of metals, cast
concrete, patterned terrazzo, and others. Today this distinctive design vocabulary, which further incorporated glass block, vitrolite and stunning painted wall murals, has become the
hallmark of Miami Beach's internationally recognized Art Deco gems.
Moderne Style - Streamline Moderne: 1930's-1940
As "Art Deco" evolved on the Beach in the 1930s modern transportation and industrial design began to have an even greater impact upon new construction. The "streamlined"
character of automobiles, airplanes, trains, buses, liners and even home appliances inspired powerful horizontal design compositions, accentuated by striking vertical features and
punctuated by icons of the technological era. Continuous "eyebrows", racing stripe banding, radio tower-like spires, portholes, and deck railings like those found on grand ocean liners,
were among the unique features to set this architecture apart from anything before it. The creative incorporation of nautical themes showed this form of Art Deco to be true to its
origins in Miami Beach.
Smooth, rounded corners often replaced sharp ones on Moderne buildings, especially on corner lots. "Eyebrows" swept around them as did other details. Street corners became
inviting architectural focal points, whether the special treatment employed was based upon curves or angles.
Post War Transitional Art Deco - Post War Deco: 1960
Post War Deco drew significantly from the form and decorative vocabulary of both early Art Deco in Miami Beach and Moderne. Although single block massing was predominant the
emphasis could be placed on either horizontal or vertical composition, dependent upon the size of the structure, the character of the site, and the will of the architect. Frequently,
continuous us of eyebrows would be extended to form side or front canopies, either cantilevered or supported on their furthest edge by columns. New decorative materials were
introduced which reflected changing tastes nationally, including brick, permastone, and cast architectural block in a variety of "open" patterns. Many of these delightful structures in
Ocean Beach paid wonderful tribute to their architectural origins while effectively addressing changing times.
Post World War II Modern Style - Post War Modern:1965
 The Miami Beach Art Deco District is a one-square-
mile area that contains roughly 1,000 buildings which
were constructed during the 1930s. The Miami Design
Preservation League conducts daily walking tours of
the Art Deco District and their guides provide a wealth
of information along the way.
 But, if you’d like to explore Miami Beach’s art deco
design heritage on your own, simply take a stroll up
Ocean Drive and down Collins Avenue, and there
you’ll see 30 blocks of the greatest concentration of
hotels and apartment houses that date from the
1920′s to the 1940′s.
 Moderne design is generally divided into two very
different phases: “Art Deco” (once referred to as “Zig Zag
Moderne”) of the 1920′s, and “Streamlined Moderne” of
the 1930′s.
 The first phase developed out of many sources, from the
verticality of Eliel Saarinen to the forms of the Paris
Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et
Industriels Modernes of 1925. As a matter of fact, the
term “Art Deco” is actually an abbreviation derived from
the words “Arts Décoratifs.”
 Art Deco is characterized by lavish decoration,
extravagant colorism, and elaborate eclectic
ornamentation.
 The second phase, Streamlined Moderne, was based
on a machine aesthetic. The term “streamlined”
comes from aerodynamics to imply speed, efficiency,
and functionalism. This style is characterized by
reductive design, light smooth surfaces, rounded
edges, and sparing geometric decoration.
 Art Deco and Streamlined are not synonymous
terms—they are distinctly separate facets of the Style
Moderne.
 Ocean Drive is one of the most picturesque streets on
Miami Beach with numerous Art Deco hotels lining
the west side of the street north from 5th Street to
14th Place.