Art Deco

You’re walking down a street in an unfamiliar city, and you see a building that makes you turn your head. It’s familiar, it’s unique, it’s beautiful. Chances are it’s Art Deco. Art Deco was the first truly international architectural style, and there are examples of it on every continent, and in many, many cities. But some cities retain a significant element of the style – and they are richer and more interesting for it.

Art Deco 101

While some elements of Art Deco predate WWI, the style really dates back from the early 1920s – the post-war, and post-pandemic period. And, it can be argued, it was largely in response to having survived these two cataclysms that Art Deco developed. Using strictly geometric shapes – including circles and triangles – the style is characterised by optimism, energy and luxury. It draws on the intersection of style with substance, and it celebrates some of the technological innovations of the early 20^th century. Parallel lines indicate speed and power, geometric curves create streamlined profiles reminiscent of cars and planes, sunbursts reference the dawning of a new era, and elements that hearken back to ancient civilisations and cultures pull it all together.

The name ‘Art Deco’ was derived from the Exposition des Arts Modernes Decoratifs et Industriels, which was held in Paris in 1925, and which is credited with being the springboard from whence it was launched into the world.

1. Africa

You don’t have to go far to see some great Art Deco buildings. Durban is vrot with Deco buildings, including some sadly very neglected ones on Point Road that have been crying out for rescue for decades. But there are also some great examples in Johannesburg, with dozens of fabulous Art Deco apartment blocks in Yeoville and elsewhere. Joburg even has an Art Deco airport – Rand Airport in Germiston. But what many people don’t know is that Springs – yes, Springs – has more Art Deco buildings than any other South African city – and more than most other cities in the world. It even has an Art Deco fire station.

But you need to go just a little further afield to see one of the few Art Deco cathedrals in the world – the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception in Maputo, where there is also an Art Deco Hindu temple. Interestingly, Maputo has some of the youngest Art Deco buildings around because, unlike in most other parts of the world, people were still building in that style in the 1950s. There are hotels, schools, shops, a radio station and – of course – cinemas.

2. Asia and Oceania

Surprisingly, there are some magnificent Art Deco neighbourhoods in Asia. After Miami, Mumbai is reputed to have more Art Deco buildings than anywhere else in the world, and its Victorian and Art Deco Ensemble of Mumbai is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The specific subset of Art Deco found in Mumbai, which is known as Bombay-Deco, reflects many aspects of Indian heritage and tropical vegetation. There is also a significant Art Deco neighbourhood in Shanghai in China.

Probably one of the most interesting Art Deco neighbourhoods in the world, though, is in Napier in New Zealand – a happy accident, although it wasn’t that happy at the time. The town was virtually destroyed in a huge earthquake so, of course, it was rebuilt – in the dominant style of the day. The whole central district is an outdoor gallery of more than 140 Art Deco buildings with some interesting local touches in the form of Maori motifs.

3. Europe

France is the home of Art Deco, but Spain probably has the most Art Deco buildings in Europe, with Valencia particularly renowned as a Deco destination. And, interestingly, Cyprus has a significant number of Art Deco buildings, largely because it was administered by the British at the height of Deco’s popularity. Characterised by flat roofs and curved corners with horizontal ‘speed stripes’, the Streamline Moderne style of Art Deco that is so apparent in Miami is also popular in Greece and Cyprus. And it can be argued that, in fact, this subset of Deco developed from Classical Greek architecture.

4. Americas

There is very little doubt that the most well-entrenched Art Deco neighbourhood is in Miami in the USA. Much as with Napier, this can be largely attributed to a disaster. In 1926, Miami was hit by a Category 4 hurricane that virtually flattened the town and resulted in hundreds of fatalities. Again, when reconstruction began, there was no intention to create an Art Deco time capsule – developers merely built in what was the dominant style of the day.