William H. Magill wrote:
On 03 Jan, 2005, at 10:51, Dubin, Elisabeth wrote:
When one comes toward West Philadelphia over the Schuylkill, there are three salient things to look at as one crosses the bridge: the triumvirate of art deco buildings comprised by the post office, the train station, and the old convention hall. There will soon be a fourth - the Cira Center.
What on earth is Art Deco about 30th Street Station? (Other than the construction period.)
Greek Revival, I might buy, but Art Deco? Even the interior is more WPA than Art Deco, the exception being the massive chandeliers. There's a great image of 30th Street Station here:
http://www.chesco.com/~apu/prr/prr_30.html
Well, there isn't much of a distinction there. A _lot_ of WPA and federal construction projects of the Depression used Art Deco and "streamline moderne" design motifs. The exterior of the station is certainly neo-classical, but the interior is one of many train station interiors which turn up in books on Art Deco.
Various descriptions of the structure describe it as evolving from the "neo-classical" popular when the building was started to the Beaux-Arts when it was completed, but nobody
calls it Art Deco.
For that matter, I'd have to look again at the Civic Center and Municipal Auditorium buildings ... I don't recall any feature that says to me "Art Deco," other than "when" they were built. (Again, excepting some of the interior lighting fixtures.)
The Convention Center has some Deco features... but it's not an especially distinguished Deco structure, at least on the exterior.
The same for the Post Office building -- it is clearly "Government Monument" in style; yeah the interior lighting fixtures and elevators are probably technically Art Deco, but even they are obscured by the massive granite and marble expanses between them. The 30th Street Post Office doesn't even have as much style as does the 8th and Market Post Office.
The Post Office is definitely Deco-- the bookmatched panelling and streamline metalwork inside, the relief mosaics on the exterior are all hallmarks of Art Deco/Streamline Moderne. (The 8th and Market Post Office is a genuine Deco classic, of course.)
I _think_ that what might be throwing you off is this. Deco is a distinct style, but it did have a pretty wide range. There's the froofy, extravagant Deco stuff you'd see in, say, Miami Beach, or in a Fred Astaire movie (thanks to Cedric Gibbons). And if that's Art Deco to someone, then larger, more powerful projects just aren't going to seem "Deco."
But Art Deco was a large _industrial_ movement as well, with locomotives and automobiles adopting the 'streamlined' look. Things like Beaux Arts and Art Nouveau were wonderful, but one rarely wanted to design a factory or turbine with this sort of look. But Art Deco could apply to a factory as much as a hair salon. It was as much a celebration of the new industrial capabilities of the post-WWI world, merging the terrific capacities of the steel industries along with first-generation plastics like Bakelite and new wood-veneer techniques. And the recovery programs of the depression didn't create buildings that were strictly utilitarian: they hired artisans and designers in a _BIG_ way. Pick up one of those coffee-table books on deco, and you'll find Big Government Buildings (even Hoover Dam) alongside of Big Industrial Buildings (Battersea Power Station) alongside of movie theaters, drugstores, and diners as exemplars of the Deco style.
By a strange coincidence, I spent some of yesterday tagging pictures in several books of Art Deco design and architecture, looking for woodworking inspiration. And I got some nifty Deco cabinets from a neighbor (and eventually, they will stop smelling like cats). So the subject's been on my mind a lot lately.
Also-- and I wish I could get to see it-- this Friday's the last day of a massive Art Deco exhibit at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. The people who did this did a wonderful Art Nouveau show at the National Gallery, and that was amazing.
---- You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see <http://www.purple.com/list.html>.
