Art Deco Britain: Buildings of the Inter-War Years

by Elain Harwood

The definitive guide to Art Deco buildings in Britain.

The perennially popular style of Art Deco influenced architecture and design all over the world in the 1920s and 1930s – from elegant Parisian theatres to glamorous Manhattan skyscrapers. The style was also adopted by British architects, but, until now, there has been little that really explains the what, where and how of Art Deco buildings in Britain. In Art Deco Britain , leading architecture historian and writer Elain Harwood, brings her trademark clarity and enthusiasm to the subject as she explores Britain's Art Deco buildings.

Art Deco Britain , published in association with the Twentieth Century Society, is the definitive guide to the architectural style in Britain. The book begins with an overview of the international Art Deco style, and how this influenced building design in Britain. The buildings covered include Houses and Flats; Churches and Public Buildings; Offices; Hotels and Public Houses; Cinemas, Theatres and Concert Halls; and many more.

The book covers some of the best-loved and some lesser-known buildings around the UK, such as the Midland Hotel in Morecambe, Eltham Palace, Broadcasting House and the Carreras Cigarette Factory in London. Beautifully produced and richly illustrated with architectural photography, this is the definitive guide to a much-loved architecture style.

Genres: Architecture, Nonfiction, Art, History

272 pages, Hardcover

Published October 1, 2019

Reviews

[Erik S · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many pretty buildings!

[Ichor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A worthy and well-appointed chronicle of a time which often seems to have fallen through the cracks of architectural history.

Buyer beware: If you, like me, prefer to marvel at the exterior rather than interior of buildings you will be mildly disappointed by the over-investment in examining art deco interiors afflicting some of the sections.

[Simon Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published last year, this was the Twentieth Century Society’s book by Elain Harwood on the finest Art Deco buildings in Britain. It was a coffee table format, with each of about a hundred buildings presented in facing pages with a full-page photo on one plate and a few paragraphs of text on the facing plate. The book is arranged into sections according to the original designed purpose of the buildings, starting with residential buildings (which I found least interesting - I would have basically reversed the order of the sections). There was also a good fifteen-page introduction to set the context.

I picked this up because I’ve been a member of the Twentieth Century Society for a while due to a mild interest in late c20 architecture, but didn’t really know anything about the British architecture associated with the earlier part of the century and the interwar period. I picked up quite a bit from this enjoyable introduction: there were quite a few buildings in here which I wouldn’t have recognised as Art Deco without Harwood’s explanatory text.

[Gareth Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Following on from the 100 Buildings, this is another fine book from the 20th Century Society. The format is nice; one well-chosen picture coupled with a few paragraphs of interesting text. When I felt the need to find additional pictures, I did so.