Streamline Moderne

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Bather's building, now a Maritime Museum at San Francisco's Aquatic Park, 1937

Judge's tower at San Francisco's Aquatic Park

Streamline Moderne, sometimes referred to by either name alone, was a late branch of the Art Deco style. Its architectural style emphasized curving forms, long horizontal lines, and sometimes nautical elements (such as railings and porthole windows). It reached its height in 1937.

The style was the first to incorporate electric light into architectural structure. In the First Class dining room of the SS Normandie, fitted out 1933 – 35, twelve tall pillars of Lalique glass and 38 columns lit from within illuminated the room. The Strand Palace Hotel foyer (1930), preserved from demolition by the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1969, marked one of the first uses of internally-lit architectural glass, and coincidentally was the first Moderne interior preserved in a museum.

[edit] Notable examples

1926 - Long Beach Airport Main Terminal, Long Beach, California
1930 - Strand Palace Hotel, London. Foyer designed by Oliver P. Bernard
1931 - The Eaton's Seventh Floor (including the Eaton Auditorium and the Round Room restaurant) in Toronto, Canada, designed by Jacques Carlu, located in the former Eaton's department store.
1933 - Burnham Beeches in Sherbrooke, Victoria, Australia. Harry Norris architect.
1933 - Merle Norman Building, Santa Monica, California See also History of Santa Monica, California
1934 - Chrysler Airflow, the first mass-market streamline automotive design
1935 - Pan Pacific Auditorium, Los Angeles, California
1935 - Edificio Internacional de Capitalización, Mexico City, Mexico
1935 - The Hindenburg, zeppelin passenger accommodations
1935 - The interior of Lansdowne House on Berkeley Square in Mayfair, London is redesigned and redecorated in the Art Moderne style and opens as the Lansdowne Club.
1936 - Minneapolis Armory, Minneapolis, Minnesota
1937 - Belgium Pavilion, at the Exposition Internationale, Paris
1937 - TAV Studios (Brenemen's Restaurant), Hollywood, California
1937 - Minerva (or Metro) Theatre and the Minerva Building, Potts Point, New South Wales, Australia
1937 - Barnum Hall (High School auditorium), Santa Monica, California
1937 - Wan Chai Market, Wan Chai,Hong Kong
1938 - Mark Keppel High School, Alhambra, California
1939 - Marine Air Terminal, La Guardia Airport, New York (pictured)
1939 - New York World's Fair
1939 - Cardozo Hotel, Ocean Drive, South Beach, Miami Beach, Florida
1940 - Greyhound Bus Station, Ann Arbor, Michigan
1941 - Avalon Hotel, Ocean Drive, South Beach, Miami Beach, Florida
1944 - Huntridge Theater, Las Vegas, Nevada
1947 - Sears Building, Santa Monica, California
1948 - Greyhound Bus Station, Cleveland, Ohio
1949 - Sault Memorial Gardens, Sault Sainte Marie, Ontario

[edit] Influences

[edit] Industrial design

The style was applied to appliances such as electric clocks, sewing machines, small radio receivers and vacuum cleaners; and made use of developments in materials science including aluminum and bakelite.

[edit] Motion Pictures

The buildings in Frank Capra's 1937 movie Lost Horizon, designed by Stephen Goosson
The design of the "Emerald City" in the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz