Prevailing modernist style in American architecture from the late 1920s and early 1930s. Seen in a wide variety of urban buildings, it was primarily used in commercial structures. Art Deco combines influences from European decoration, especially the Beaux-Arts school in France; ideas from the Chicago school of architecture; the theater; and futuristic fantasies. Art Deco style often suggests the influence of machines in its symmetries, its use of metals and other materials, and its precise repetitions of patterns.
