About Art Deco Architecture  Archer-East Finchley-NX-Edit-Edit
In the early part of the twentieth century, a new architectural
style, now called Art Deco, offered a different, more modern
direction in design.  This break with tradition was gradual,
with some Art Deco buildings notable mostly for their ornament;
more repackaging than innovation. That said, by the mid-1920s a
combination of prosperity, optimism, exotic materials and fine
craftsmanship produced some spectacular and exciting
architecture.  For big business, Art Deco was ideal for
expressing corporate wealth and dominance. Banks used the style
to convey security. Hollywood used it to define the good
life. But soon, the good life proffered by Hollywood would be
just that; the stuff of dreams. When the stock market crash
brought down the curtain in 1929, it took the first phase of
the Art Deco era with it. In Manhattan, the Empire State
Building was completed in 1931 and for some time after there was
little construction of any kind, with the sole e