Art Deco Britain: Buildings of the Inter-War Years

by Elain Harwood

The definitive guide to Britain’s most impressive Art Deco buildings.

Despite the huge popularity of Art Deco architecture, there is little that really explains the what, where, and how of Art Deco buildings in Britain. With this beautifully photographed volume, leading architectural historian Elain Harwood brings her trademark clarity and enthusiasm to the subject, from the genre’s origins to the influence of international styles. She looks at houses, offices, factories, entertainment venues, and the architects who created them—including such specific buildings as the Midland Hotel in Morecambe; Eltham Palace, Broadcasting House, and the Carreras Cigarette Factory in London; Finella in Cambridge; St Christopher church in Liverpool; and Tindale Lido in Plymouth.

Genres: Architecture, Nonfiction, Art, History

272 pages, Hardcover

Published January 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.