The 1950s & Deco Motifs

Streamline

• The art deco designs of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s focus on ornate structural components such as friezes and decorative facades with columns, wood carvings and metal structural components. Art deco motifs of the 1950s, however, used a simpler style known as Streamline. The Streamline exterior building motif uses basic features like straight lines and curves. Buildings that use the 1950s Streamline building style generally have very little by way of ornamentation on the exterior.

Roofs

• Art deco designs of the 1920s through 1940s often have complex multileveled roof designs, with features such as metal-appointed spires, like those on both New York City’s Chrysler Building and Empire State Building. The buildings of the 1950s Streamline art deco style, however, have roofs as simple as the other exterior designs. 1950s roofs commonly have a single level that is either flat or arched, though a variation may be a flat roof with rounded corners or a centered arch feature on an otherwise rectangular surface.

Signage

• The signage used in 1950s art deco motifs may serve as one of the most recognizable features of the period. These signs are generally individual letters, large and angular, attach to the side of building on metal supports. The shape of the signs and the lettering generally run vertically, and the letters are usually large enough to be read from a substantial distance. In the 1950s style, such art deco signs commonly appear on theaters and diners.

Exterior Features

• A variety of additional features help make up the motifs of 1950s art deco. Some general features include straight horizontal or vertical lines carved or painted onto the building, iron window decorations, and shapes like octagons, triangles, diamonds and zigzags. Art deco buildings erected or redecorated in the 1950s commonly have brightly colored features, sometimes substituting colored paint or neon lights where carved stripes would have been in earlier buildings. Additional colored features on art deco buildings of the 1950s include stained glass windows and mosaic tiles.