Streamline Moderne is an international style of Art Deco architecture and design that emerged in the 1930s. Inspired by aerodynamic design, it emphasized curving forms, long horizontal lines, and sometimes nautical elements. In industrial design, it was used in railroad locomotives, telephones, buses, appliances, and other devices to give the impression of sleekness and modernity.
In France, it was called the , or "ocean liner style", and was influenced by the design of the luxury ocean liner SS Normandie, launched in 1932.
Influences and origins
As the Great Depression of the 1930s progressed, Americans saw a new architectural style emerge as industrial designers stripped Art Deco of its ornament in favor of an aerodynamically-inspired pure-line concept. Some argue that the origin can be traced back to the "Century of Progress" Chicago World's fair in 1933–1934. The new streamlined look that emerged conveyed simplicity, motion, and speed, much derived from—and influencing—advanced forms of modern transportation.
It had various roots. Its cylindrical forms and long horizontal windowing may have been influenced by the New Objectivity artists—a movement connected to the German Werkbund—and by Futurist architecture of the early 20th century. Examples of this style include the 1923 Mossehaus, the reconstruction of the corner of a Berlin office building in 1923 by Erich Mendelsohn and Richard Neutra. The Streamline Moderne was sometimes a reflection of the austere economic times; sharp angles were replaced with simple, aerodynamic curves, and ornament was replaced with smooth concrete and glass.
The style was the first to incorporate electric light into architectural structure. In the first-class dining room of the SS Normandie, fitted out 1933–1935, 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.
Architecture
Streamline Moderne appeared most overtly in buildings related to transportation and movement, such as bus and train stations, airport terminals, roadside cafes, and port buildings.Bridge, Nicole. Architecture 101, Simon & Schuster, New York, (2015), page 203. It had characteristics common with modern architecture, including a horizontal orientation, rounded corners, the use of glass brick walls or porthole windows, flat roofs, chrome-plated hardware, and horizontal grooves or lines in the walls. Structures were frequently white or in subdued pastel colors.
An example of this style is the Aquatic Park Bathhouse in the Aquatic Park Historic District, in San Francisco. Built beginning in 1936 by the Works Progress Administration, it features the distinctive horizontal lines, classic rounded corners railing and windows of the style, resembling the elements of ship. The interior preserves much of the original decoration and detail, including murals by artist and color theoretician Hilaire Hiler. The architects were William Mooser Jr. and William Mooser III. It is now the administrative center of Aquatic Park Historic District.
The Normandie Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, which opened during 1942, is built in the stylized shape of the ocean liner SS Normandie, and displays the ship's original sign. The Sterling Streamliner Diners in New England were diners designed like streamlined trains.
Another example is Hollywood, California's Julian Medical Building, which has been described as a "landmark", "an architectural masterpiece", and "one of the crowning achievements of Streamline Moderne." The building's distinctive features include a rounded Moderne corner, windswept tower, and pylon-separated horizontally-reinforced windows.
Streamline Moderne residences are less common than streamline commercial buildings. The Lydecker House in Los Angeles, built by Howard Lydecker, is one example. In tract development, elements of the style were sometimes used as a variation in postwar row housing in San Francisco's Sunset District.
Paquebot style
In France, the style was called Paquebot, meaning ocean liner. The French version was inspired by the launch of the premier transatlantic liner Normandie in 1935, which featured an Art Deco dining room with columns of Lalique crystal. Buildings using variants of the style appeared in Belgium and in Paris, notably in a building at 3 boulevard Victor in the 15th arrondissement, by the architect Pierre Patout. He was one of the founders of the Art Deco style. He designed the entrance to the Pavilion of a Collector at the 1925 Exposition of Decorative Arts, the birthplace of the style. He was also the designer of the interiors of three ocean liners, the Ile-de-France (1926), the L'Atlantique (1930), and the Normandie (1935).Oudin, Bernard. Dictionnaire des Architectes, Sechiers, Paris, (1994), (in French), page 372. Patout's building on Avenue Victor lacked the curving lines of the American version of the style, but it had a narrow "bow" at one end, where the site was narrow, long balconies like the decks of a ship, and a row of projections like smokestacks on the roof. Another 1935 Paris apartment building at 1 Avenue Paul Doumer in the 16th arrondissement had a series of terraces modelled after the decks of an ocean liner.
The Flagey Building was built on the Place Eugène Flagey in Ixelles (Brussels), Belgium, in 1938, in the paquebot style, and has been nicknamed "Packet Boat" or "paquebot". It was designed by , and selected as the winning design in an architectural competition to create a building to house the former headquarters of the Belgian National Institute of Radio Broadcasting (INR/NIR). The building was extensively renovated, and in 2002, it reopened as a cultural centre known as Le Flagey.
Automobiles
The defining event for streamline moderne design in the United States was the 1933–34 Chicago World's Fair, which introduced the style to the general public. The new automobiles adapted the smooth lines of ocean liners and airships, giving the impression of efficiency, dynamism, and speed. The grills and windshields tilted backwards, cars sat lower and wider, and featured smooth curves and horizontal speed lines. Examples include the 1934 Chrysler Airflow and the 1934 Studebaker Land Cruiser. The cars also featured new materials, including bakelite plastic, formica, Vitrolight opaque glass, stainless steel, and enamel, which gave the appearance of newness and sleekness.McCourt, Mark, "When Art Deco is Really Streamline Moderne", Hemmings Daily, 29 May 2014
Other later examples include the 1950 Nash Ambassador "Airflyte" sedan with its distinctive low fender lines, as well as Hudson's postwar cars, such as the Commodore, that "were distinctive streamliners—ponderous, massive automobiles with a style all their own".
Planes, boats and trains
Streamlining became a widespread design practice for aircraft, railroad locomotives, and ships.
Industrial design
Streamline style industrial design can be contrasted with functionalism, which represent a contrasting modernistic school. A leading design style in Europe at the same time, functionalism sought simple designs to lower the production costs, making them affordable to the large European working class.
Other notable examples
1923: Mossehaus, Berlin. Reconstruction by Erich Mendelsohn and Richard Neutra 1926: Long Beach Airport Main Terminal, Long Beach, California 1928: Lockheed Vega, designed by John Knudsen Northrop, a six-passenger, single-engine aircraft used by Amelia Earhart 1928: Doctor's Building, Kyiv, Ukraine 1928–1930: Canada Permanent Trust Building, Toronto 1930: Strand Palace Hotel, London; foyer designed by Oliver Percy Bernard 1930–1934: Broadway Mansions, Shanghai, designed by B. Flazer of Palmer and Turner 1931: The Eaton's Seventh Floor, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, designed by Jacques Carlu, in the former Eaton's department store 1931: Tarlair Swimming Pool [Macduff, Scotland] 1931: Napier, New Zealand, rebuilt in Art Deco and Streamline Moderne styles after a major earthquake 1931–1932: Plärrer Automat, Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany, designed by Walter Brugmann 1931–1933: Hamilton GO Centre, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada by Alfred T. Fellheimer 1931–1944: Serralves House, Porto, Portugal, designed by José Marques da Silva 1932: Edifício Columbus, São Paulo, Brazil (demolished 1971) 1932: Arnos Grove Tube Station, London, England, designed by Charles Holden 1933: Casa della Gioventù del Littorio, Rome, designed by Luigi Moretti 1933: Ty Kodak, Quimper, France, designed by Olier Mordrel 1933: Southgate tube station, London 1933: Burnham Beeches, Sherbrooke, Victoria, Australia. Harry Norris architect 1933: Merle Norman Building, Santa Monica, California See also History of Santa Monica, California 1933: Midland Hotel, Morecambe, England 1933: Edificio Lapido, Montevideo, Uruguay 1933–1940: Interior of Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry, designed by Alfred Shaw 1934: Pioneer Zephyr, the first of Edward G. Budd's streamlined stainless-steel locomotives 1934: Tatra 77, the first mass-market streamline automotive design 1934: Chrysler Airflow, the second mass-market streamline automotive design 1934: Hotel Shangri-La, Santa Monica, California 1934: Edifício Nicolau Schiesser, São Paulo, Brazil (demolished 2014) 1935: Ford Building, Balboa Park, San Diego, California 1935: The De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea, England 1935: Pan-Pacific Auditorium, Los Angeles 1935: Edificio Internacional de Capitalización, Mexico City, Mexico 1935: The Hindenburg, Zeppelin passenger accommodations 1935: Interior of Lansdowne House on Berkeley Square, Mayfair, London 1935: The Hamilton Hydro-Electric System Building (55 John Street North now offices for Alectra Utilities Corporation), Hamilton, Ontario, Canada 1935: MV Kalakala, the world's first streamlined ferry 1935: Lee Drug, Hollywood, California, designed by B.D. Bixby 1935: Technologist's Building, Kyiv, Ukraine 1935–1938: Former Belgian National Institute of Radio Broadcasting (known as the Radio House) on the Place Eugène Flagey, Ixelles (Brussels), by Joseph Diongre 1935–1956: High Tower Court, Hollywood Heights, Los Angeles 1936: Lasipalatsi, Helsinki, Finland, functionalist office building and now a cultural and media center 1936: Florin Court, on Charterhouse Square, London, built by Guy Morgan and Partners 1936: Campana Factory, historic factory, Batavia, Illinois 1936: Edifício Guarani, São Paulo, Brazil 1936: Nordic Theater, Marquette, Michigan 1936: Alkira House, Melbourne 1936: Longford Cinema, Manchester, England (closed since 1995) 1937: Howard Crane's Earls Court Exhibition Centre, London (demolished) 1937: Earl's Court tube station, London, facing the Earls Court Exhibition frontage 1937: Blytheville Greyhound Bus Station, Blytheville, Arkansas 1937: Regent Court, residential apartments on Bradfield Road, Hillsborough, Sheffield 1937: Malloch Building, residential apartments at 1360 Montgomery Street, San Francisco 1937: B B Chemical Company, Cambridge, Massachusetts, built by Coolidge, Shepley, Bulfinch & Abbott 1937: Belgium Pavilion, at the Exposition Internationale, Paris 1937: TAV Studios (Brenemen's Restaurant), Hollywood 1937: Dudley Zoo, Dudley, UK 1937: Hecht Company Warehouse, Washington, D.C. 1937: Minerva (or Metro) Theatre and the Minerva Building, Potts Point, New South Wales, Australia 1937: Bather's Building in the Aquatic Park Historic District, now the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park Maritime Museum 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