Page 52 - KW LUXURY MAGAZINE

illustrates how the style migrated upstate from the Big Apple. Buffalo City Hall, one of the tallest municipal buildings in the nation, is replete with colorful, opulent Art Deco elements.
Detroit is an underrated center for Art Deco in America, insists Rebecca Binno Savage of Kraemer Design Group, an architectural
rm specializing in historic restoration. An architectural historian and author of the book
Art Deco in Detroit, Savage also serves as vice president of the Detroit Area Art Deco Society. “Detroit’s best buildings are Art Deco,” she reports, ranking her hometown among the best in the nation for this architecture. “Art Deco looked forward instead of referring back to styles like Gothic or Romanesque,” says Savage of its appeal, adding, “It was the design style chosen to make a statement of modernity.”
Sometimes referred to as “Detroit’s largest art object” is the Fisher Building designed by Albert Kahn, the Motor City’s legendary architect. The 444-foot-tall building has a distinctive spire and is clad in 40 different marbles, brass and bronze, while the building’s soaring lobby — it features ornate, hand-painted barreled ceilings — is equally extravagant. With its dramatic splashes of color, Savage suggests the Guardian Building is another stunning example of Art Deco in Detroit.
In the Midwest, Chicago’s strong Art Deco tradition is represented by the Carbide & Carbon Building, designed by Burnham Brothers and identi ed by its 24-karat gold leaf spire.
The Chicago Board of Trade and the Palmolive Building are other prominent examples of the style that appears not only downtown but in neighborhoods across the Windy City. Even some contemporary construction re ects Art Deco sensibilities, such as the Ritz-Carlton Residences, a Magni cent Mile high-rise completed in 2012.
Outstanding collections of Deco structures were built, and remain well preserved, throughout the Great Plains region, con rming that the fanciful Parisian style had widespread appeal in America’s Heartland. Art Deco’s popularity for iconic institutions, including many train stations, is represented by Omaha’s Union Station whose interior is particularly grandiose.
Art Deco left its imprint on Kansas City, where the 1931 Kansas City Power & Light Building is a major landmark, further evidence the style was a favorite among utilities, railroads and other companies whose branding needed
to convey a modern future. The 34-story skyscraper, crowned with an ornamental lantern,
Art Deco in Los Angeles features colorful terra cotta, soaring towers and imaginative detailing.
The Wiltern Theater is a signature of L.A. Art Deco.
L.A.’s former Bullocks Wilshire department store.
was the tallest building west of the Mississippi River until construction of Seattle’s Space Needle decades later.
Tulsa, Oklahoma is an unexpected Art Deco wonderland, offering a vast inventory of commercial and residential buildings. Shane Hood of W Design, current member and former president of the Tulsa Foundation for Architecture board of trustees, reports, “People are surprised
to nd such an intact collection of Art Deco in a place some perceive as in the middle of nowhere.” He explains an in ux of cash- ush investors
The downtown L.A. Central Library.
“Our Art Deco community pride and in been a huge resurgence of our historical heritage in
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PHOTO © MIKE HUME PHOTOS BY ADRIAN SCOTT FINE / L.A. CONSERVANCY