Streamline Moderne
- See also: Streamline Moderne architecture
Streamline Moderne, sometimes referred to by either name alone, was a late type of the Art Deco design style which emerged during the 1930s. Its architectural style emphasized curving forms, long horizontal lines, and sometimes nautical elements.
Background
As the depression decade of the 1930s progressed, Americans saw a new aspect of the Art Deco style emerge in the marketplace: Streamlining. The Streamlining concept was first created by industrial designers who stripped Art Deco design of its fauna and flora in favor of the aerodynamic pure-line concept of motion and speed developed from scientific thinking. As a result an array of designers quickly ultra-modernized and streamlined the designs of everyday objects. Manufacturers of clocks, radios, telephones, cars, furniture and numerous other household appliances embraced the concept with open arms.
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 during 1969, was one of the first uses of internally-lit architectural glass, and coincidentally was the first Moderne interior preserved in a museum.
The Streamline Moderne was both a reaction to Art Deco and a reflection of austere economic times. Gone was unnecessary ornament. Sharp angles were replaced with simple, aerodynamic curves. Exotic woods and stone were replaced with cement and glass.
Art Deco and Streamline Moderne were not necessarily opposites. Streamline Moderne buildings with a few Deco elements were not uncommon but the prime movers behind streamline design (Raymond Loewy, Walter Dorwin Teague, Gilbert Rohde, Norman Bel Geddes) all disliked Art Deco, seeing it as effete, falsely modern, essentially a fraud.
Architecture
Common characteristics of Streamline Moderne and Art Moderne
- Horizontal orientation
- Rounded edges, corner windows, and glass block walls
- Glass block
- Porthole windows
- Chrome hardware
- Smooth exterior wall surfaces, usually stucco (smooth plaster finish)
- Flat roof with coping
- Horizontal grooves or lines in walls
- Subdued colors: base colors were typically light earth tones, off-whites, or beiges; and trim colors were typically dark colors (or bright metals) to contrast from the light base.
The Normandie Hotel, which opened during 1942, is built in the stylized shape of Normandie the ship, and it includes the ship's original sign.
Although Streamline Moderne houses are less common than streamline commercial buildings, residences do exist. The Lydecker House in Los Angeles, built by Howard Lydecker, is an example of Streamline Moderne design in residential architecture. In tract development, elements of the style were frequently used as a variation in post-war row housing in San Francisco's Sunset District.
Notable examples
- 1926 — Long Beach Airport Main Terminal, Long Beach, California
- 1928 — Lockheed Vega, designed by John Knudsen Northrop, a six-passenger single engine aircraft, made famous by the use of Amelia Earhart.
- 1930 — Strand Palace Hotel, London. Foyer designed by Oliver P. Bernard
- 1930-1934 — Broadway Mansions, Shanghai, designed by B. Flazer of Palmer and Turner
- 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.
- 1931 — Napier, New Zealand, rebuilt in Art Deco and Streamline Moderne styles after a major earthquake.
- 1933 — Southgate tube station, London
- 1933 — Burnham Beeches in Sherbrooke, Victoria, Australia. Harry Norris architect.
- 1933 — The Lawson "Zephyr" clock designed by Kem Weber for Lawson Time of Alhambra, California.
- 1933 — Merle Norman Building, Santa Monica, California See also History of Santa Monica, California
- 1933 — Midland Hotel, Morecambe, England.
- 1933-1940 — The interior of Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry, designed by Alfred Shaw
- 1934 — Chrysler Airflow, the first mass-market streamline automotive design
- 1934 — Hotel Shangri-La (Santa Monica), California
- 1935 — Ford Building, San Diego, California, Balboa Park
- 1935 — The De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea, England
- 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 — Florin Court, on Charterhouse Square in London, built by Guy Morgan and Partners. It became 'Whitehaven Mansions', the fictional residence of Hercule Poirot, in the 1980s filming of the TV series based on Agatha Christie's mystery stories.
- 1937 — B and B Chemical Company, at 780 Memorial Drive in Cambridge, Massachusetts, built by Coolidge, Shepley, Bulfinch & Abbott and added to the National Historic Register in 1982.
- 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 — Bather's Building in the Aquatic Park, now the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park Maritime Museum, with exhibits and social halls.
- 1937 — Barnum Hall (High School auditorium), Santa Monica, California
- 1937 — J.W. Knapp Company Building (department store) Lansing, Michigan
- 1937 — Wan Chai Market, Wan Chai, Hong Kong
- 1937 — River Oaks Shopping Center, Houston, Texas
- 1938 — Mark Keppel High School, Alhambra, California
- 1938 — Normandie building, Mar del Plata, Argentina
- 1939 — Coca-Cola Building (Los Angeles), California
- 1939 — Marine Air Terminal, La Guardia Airport, New York
- 1939 — Road Island Diner, Oakley, Utah
- 1939 — New York World's Fair
- 1939 — Cardozo Hotel, Ocean Drive, South Beach, Miami Beach, Florida
- 1940 — Gabel Kuro jukebox designed by Brooks Stevens
- 1940 — Greyhound Bus Station, Ann Arbor, Michigan
- 1940 — Jai Alai Building, Taft Avenue Manila, Philippines
- 1940 — Hollywood Palladium, Los Angeles, California
- 1940 — Las Vegas Union Pacific Station, Las Vegas, Nevada
- 1941 — Avalon Hotel, Ocean Drive, South Beach, Miami Beach, Florida
- 1942 — Normandie Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico
- 1942 — Mercantile National Bank Building, Dallas
- 1944 — Huntridge Theater, Las Vegas, Nevada
- 1946 — Gerry Building, Los Angeles, California
- 1947 — Sears Building, Santa Monica, California
- 1948 — Greyhound Bus Station, Cleveland, Ohio
- 1949 — Sault Memorial Gardens, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
- 1957-2006— Star Ferry Pier, Central, Hong Kong (demolished)
- 1957 — Tsim Sha Tsui Ferry Pier, Hong Kong
Influences
Industrial and consumer product design
The style was applied to appliances such as electric clocks, sewing machines, small radio receivers and vacuum cleaners. Their manufacturing processes exploited developments in materials science including aluminum and bakelite.
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Chrysler Airflow (advertisement comparing the car to the streamlined train M-10000)
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Airstream trailer -
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
- The main character's helmet and rocket pack in the 1991 movie The Rocketeer
See also
- Streamline Moderne architecture
- Art Deco
- Raygun Gothic
- Googie architecture
- Century of Progress Chicago's 2nd World's Fair (1933-34)
- Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne (1937)
(1937 Paris Exposition)
References
 | This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. (July 2008) |