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By Susan Robertson, 2009, and Brent Hoffmann, 2005
Photographs by the authors

On a recent trip to the nation’s capital, we looked for a D.C. tour targeted at Art Deco.  We didn’t find any, so we created our own path of deco discovery in this eminently walkable city.  Some Art Deco buildings seemed similar to those in Chicago.  Others, federal offices or national headquarters, seemed different.  In D.C., Art Deco developed a special form, known as “PWA-Moderne,” named after the Public Works Administration that provided jobs to builders and artists during the Great Depression of the late 1920s and ‘30s.  Historian E.J. Applewhite notes that critics labeled the PWA style as ‘starved classicism’ or ‘stripped classicism.’

Our tour focused on five buildings in the central part of D.C.  

1.  The Brownlee Confectionary Building (Porter and Lockie, 1932), in the heart of downtown D.C, is now repurposed as a taco restaurant, District Taco.  (We recommend the corn tacos with chopped chicken and guacamole topped with chipotle mayo.). Its limestone façade has sparkling aluminum panels with designs from the 1925 Paris Exposition:  zigzags, geometric flowers, chevrons, and sunbursts.  This reminded us of designs on the façade of the Chicago Motor Club.

 

2.  The John Adams Building (Pierson and Wilson, 1938), on Capitol Hill,  serves as the Annex of the Library of Congress.  Lee Lawrie, an artist associated with the 1933-34 Century of Progress Exhibition in Chicago, created the exterior sculptures.  At the south entry we found simplified deco eagles looking like fat pigeons guarding a zigzag staircase.  The east and west entries have massive doorways featuring striking bronze relief sculptures dedicated to the founders of alphabets of the world.  Toth was the Egyptian god of knowledge; Quetzacoatl was the Aztec god of writing; Cadmus introduced the Phoenician alphabet to the Greeks.

    

3.  The National Academy of Sciences (Bertrand Goodhue, 1924), on the National Mall West, displays the stripped classical style. The pediment over the main door, sculpted by Lee Lawrie, has charming deco eagles as acroteria.  The Academy’s domed grand hall has streamlined deco ceiling murals by Hildreth Meiere, another artist associated with the 1933-34 Century of Progress Exhibition in Chicago.  Her designs show the history of science with allegorical female figures in roundels (see “water” below) and small medallions depicting inventions. 

4.  The Udall Department of the Interior Building (Waddy B. Wood, 1936) is another example of “PWA-Moderne.”  This monumental building, the first federal building completed during the Franklin Roosevelt administration, stretches for two city blocks and contains 2,200 offices. The Udall Building’s interior has a magnificent collection of murals by New Deal artists, including William Gropper (“Construction of a Dam,” 1937) and James Auchiah (“Harvest Dance,” 1939).

5.   The Oceanaire Seafood Room (Schwartz, 2000) was our last deco stop. It is a good example of the “Deco Echo” revival in the late 20^th century.  Note the stylized columns with flat circular capitals, porthole windows, and linear aluminum and bronze light fixtures.  Its website claims the Oceanaire is “as sleek as a 1930s ocean liner.”  (Try the wild Alaskan halibut or New England clam chowder.)  

Our self-guided Art Deco tour provided a fascinating perspective on architecture in the capitol, and some excellent meals.  If you get to Washington D.C., we recommend the National Building Museum for an overview of architecture in this important city. 

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