Streamline Moderne

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Bather's Building, now a maritime museum at San Francisco's Aquatic Park, 1937, evokes a streamlined double–ended ferryboat

Judge's tower at San Francisco's Aquatic Park

Avalon Hotel on Ocean Drive in South Beach

Streamline Moderne, sometimes referred to by either name alone, was a late branch of the Art Deco design 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.

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.

[edit] Notable examples

• 1926 - Long Beach Airport Main Terminal, Long Beach, California
• 1928 - Lockheed Vega, designed by John Northrop, a four-passenger single engine aircraft, made famous by the use of Amelia Earhart.
• 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.
• 1931 - Napier, New Zealand, rebuilt in Art Deco and Streamline Moderne styles after a major earthquake.
• 1933 - Burnham Beeches in Sherbrooke, Victoria, Australia. Harry Norris architect.
• 1933- The Lawson "Zephyr" clock designed by Kem Weber for Lawson Time of Alhambra, CA.
• 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
• 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 - 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 - Bather's Building at San Francisco's Aquatic Park
• 1937 - Barnum Hall (High School auditorium), Santa Monica, California
• 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 - Marine Air Terminal, La Guardia Airport, New York
• 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 - Las Vegas Union Pacific Station, Las Vegas, Nevada
• 1941 - Avalon Hotel, Ocean Drive, South Beach, Miami Beach, Florida
• 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

[edit] Influences

[edit] Industrial and consumer product design

The style was applied to appliances such as electric clocks, sewing machines, small radio receivers and vacuum cleaners. These also employed developments in materials science including aluminum and bakelite.

Chrysler Airflow (1934)

Airstream trailer

Toaster

Bakelite radio

[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

[edit] See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: 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)

[edit] External links

• collection of photographs
• Streamline moderne
• Archetypal 1939 San Francisco Pre War Modern Single Family Home