Customer Reviews

Rediscover Art Deco USA

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I have the first printing of this book from 1994 but I see that this is a 2002 edition though I've no idea if it has been updated. Through its pages you can explore the wonderful Deco delights in eighteen major cities across the Nation and rather nicely the Hoover Dam gets a chapter to itself. There are good photos and excellent captions but I was rather disappointment that it focuses too much on commercial and residential architecture in cities. Anything outside these metro areas is just left to few words in a sort of sidebar called Elsewhere at the end of each city chapter. So the stunning Butler Mansion, Des Moines or the Coral Court Motel, near St Louis only get a photo and caption in the comprehensive overview of American Deco at the front of the book.

Admittedly large cities will have the most Deco building but the style fanned out across America with even small towns getting a Bill Arrasmith Greyhound bus station and probably a few private homes as well build in the style. Perhaps the book should be read with a copy of The National Trust Guide to Art Deco in America (Preservation Press) to hand. The three authors and photographer Randy Juster have really scoured the eighteen cities to find the best before it gets pulled down. Unfortunately Barbara Capitman died in 1990 while researching the book. It was her heroic efforts that helped put Miami Beach on the Deco map.

The book is well printed though I thought the design rather bland but the 236 color photos make the style come alive. The back of the book has a short glossary of terms and a really comprehensive bibliography plus a handy listing of Deco societies in America and overseas (but in the nature of this kind of information some of the addresses could be out of date). If you are fan of the style this book will be a useful architectural guide for what Deco to look for in the featured cities.

***SEE SOME INSIDE PAGES by clicking 'customer images' under the cover.