Art Deco Architecture: Design, Decoration, and Detail from the Twenties and Thirties

From a sleekly modern apartment house in Cairo to a town hall in the Netherlands, architecture was influenced internationally by the Art Deco style, as revealed by this wide-angled, superbly illustrated survey. Bayer ( The Art of Rene Lalique ) first uncovers Art Deco's ancient and exotic sources, from Assyrian to Mayan to Moorish. Her text, wedded to 376 jazzy, snazzy illustrations (146 in color), demonstrates how this vibrant, decorative style extended between the wars into every nook and cranny of the U.S. leaving its mark on skyscrapers, movie theaters, firehouses, factories, dams, tunnels, high schools, gas stations, roadside diners and even gravestones. Bayer also examines the Art Deco revival, citing restored Miami Beach hotels as well as public buildings by Michael Graves, Robert Venturi and Helmut Jahn that echo or evoke Art Deco, a style ``at once traditional and innovative.'' (Dec.)