Art Deco architecture (fl. 1920-1940) is an early Modern architecture movement that features bright colors, forms and ornamentation influenced by exotic revivals, and a streamlined design. Well known by the general public for its tall contributions to early city skylines, Art Deco architecture is indeed characterized by its vertical emphasis through setbacks.
"Art Deco" is short for arts decoratifs, French for "decorative arts," which came from the 1925 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris. This was a period of time in which the style was achieving international recognition.
Art Deco architecture was influenced by several styles that came before it, namely Cubism and the Vienna Secession, but it was a reaction against the swooping forms of Art Nouveau in particular. The earliest Art Deco buildings were designed in France by Auguste Perret and Henri Sauvage in the early 20th century. The first major building of its kind was the Theatre des Champs-Elysees, which uses classically-influenced materials, forms, and ornamentation, but its pared-down aesthetics were a strong departure from the waning Art Nouveau.
The 1925 International Exposition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts exposed the world to Art Deco design. America had built a few Art Deco buildings prior to 1925, but it quickly became the preeminent design language for skyscrapers, and the last gasps of Gothic Revival and Beaux-Arts architecture were abandoned. An early example is Raymond Hood's 1924 American Radiator Building, which employs Art Deco massing but has a crown influenced by Gothic spires.
The style flourished through the 1930s in the United States, resulting in iconic designs such as the Empire State Building, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, and the Fisher Building. Its setbacks responded to zoning laws of the time and provided buildings with a modern telescoping look that the early skyscrapers of before lacked.
Art Deco buildings are characterized by several features. Representing a sort of middle ground between the Victorian revivals and Beaux-Arts architecture versus early Modernism, they retain applied ornamentation but have more regular massing and fenestration. In form, Art Deco buildings have a vertical emphasis, which is achieved through setbacks on loftier buildings and skyscrapers, also resulting in a chunky sense of massing. Materiality is commonly stone like other buildings of the period, but more modern materials include stainless steel and plastic. Key decorative elements include towers or spires, abstracted classical ornamentation, and murals or sculpture. Interiors usually have opulent materials such as stone, marble, or ceramic, and have a grand scale. Some Art Deco buildings borrow form or decorative motifs from exotic styles, such as Egyptian, Islamic, Asian, Mesopotamian, or Mayan architecture.
Although Art Deco architecture fell out of fashion by the late 1930s, it was still supplanted by related styles, such as Art Moderne and Stripped Classicism. It was not until after World War II that the United States embraced Modern and International architecture more broadly.
Art Deco has also seen its forms revived during the Postmodern movement and even today, as larger and taller skyscrapers dwarf the former juggernauts of a century ago.