Streamline Moderne

Streamline Moderne is an international style of Art Deco architecture and design that emerged in the 1930s, distinguished from earlier Art Deco by its aerodynamic inspiration, stripping away applied ornament in favor of long horizontal lines, curved corners and cylindrical projections. During the Great Depression, industrial designers pared Art Deco down to this pure line, streamlined aesthetic, a shift influenced in France, where the style was known as style paquebot or ocean liner style, by the design of the luxury liner SS Normandie, launched in 1932. The 1933 to 1934 Chicago World's Fair marked a defining moment for the style's spread across the United States. Because the style evoked speed and motion, it appeared most often in buildings connected to travel and transport, including bus and train stations, airport terminals, roadside cafes and port buildings, its curved end walls and horizontal banding intended to suggest forward momentum even in a stationary structure.