By Terry Carter
My interest started with a coyote, an ugly one. Coyote Ugly; the saloon and my neighbor. The bar, however, wasn't the object of my interest, but the building it occupies. (Really.) It was only after reading Before Ugly Got Ugly (see the story at Penn Quarter Stories) that I realized the building had historical and architectural merit. It also had no protective status and consequently had suffered damage by current and previous occupants.
The most recent damage was to the four bas-relief panels of the façade, which are some of the earliest examples of Art Deco figural sculpture in Washington. Enter the Art Deco Society of Washington and the D.C. Preservation League, which are seeking landmark status for the building to protect its façade from further damage.
While I was familiar with the D.C. Preservation League, a fine organization, I had never heard of the Art Deco Society of Washington (ADSW). Who are these people? I had never considered Washington an Art Deco-kind of city, yet here was an organization organized around it. Intrigued, I set out to learn more. The ADSW was the real object of my interest and the subject of this story.
So what's the Art Deco Society all about?
Linda Lyons, the Education Chair of the ADSW and author of the brochure, Metro Deco: A Guide to Metro-Accessible Art Deco Landmarks of the Washington Metropolitan Area, graciously agreed to grant me an interview for this story. She explained that this is an all-volunteer organization. While it is foremost a preservation organization, the society also seeks to foster public awareness and appreciation for the Art Deco period.
Formally, the Art Deco period is a movement that flourished between the two world wars. Scholars of the movement say that the seeds were planted before World War I. The movement didn't begin to flourish until after the war, and it continued to do so into World War II. After that Modernism began to take over.
The phrase "Art Deco" was derived in the late 1960s from the name of the Paris Exposition of 1925, Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes.
Prior to the 1960s the word "Moderne" was used to describe this movement. The style that the Expo influenced was "jazzy," as later represented by the Chrysler building in American architecture, along with a great deal of rich and sometimes exotic ornamentation with Egyptian and Aztec motifs.
A classic example of this luxurious style can be seen in Washington at the Kennedy-Warren apartment building, 3133 Connecticut Avenue NW. It was designed by Washington architect Joseph Younger in 1929-1930 and built the following year.
"Streamline Moderne" was a concurrent style in the 1930s, characterized by long horizontal lines and curvy forms; it used more industrial materials, such as electric lights and architectural glass and sometimes had a nautical flavor. The former Greyhound Terminal at 1100 New York Avenue NW is an example of this style (sans nautical flavor).
While Art Deco architecture is a strong interest of the ADSW, it extends beyond that to dancing, films, radios, vintage clothing and collectibles.
Dancing?
"Yes, vintage dancing such as Swing and the Lindy-Hop, especially from the Big Bands period," Lyons explained. "There's a strong interest in that around here, with dances held in many locations, including Glen Echo Park in Maryland. Also, we hold an Art Deco Ball every year and encourage people to wear vintage clothing." Because vintage clothing is very delicate, some wear reproductions. Fashion shows are also held, but not annually, since this is a volunteer organization and it takes a lot of work. Some reproductions are used in the fashion show, but mostly vintage clothing is presented. Collectors are a big part of their membership.
The Art Deco Society of Washington was formed in 1982 as a preservation organization concerned about the demolition of beautiful buildings in Washington. Richard Striner, who had just been awarded a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, was an ardent preservationist and history scholar working on a book with Hans Wirz about Art Deco architecture in Washington. The book was an outgrowth of Striner's dissertation about design symbolism of the 1920s and 1930s.
News of the book came to the attention of Barbara Baer Capitman, a feisty activist from Miami Beach who was campaigning to preserve Art Deco architecture in Miami and other cities. Capitman was visiting American cities to organize Art Deco groups for preserving their own Art Deco architecture. A meeting in Washington ensued, which Striner attended, and Capitman implored the group to form an Art Deco society. They agreed, and because of Striner's book project he was asked to serve as its first president.
Two years later, Striner's and Wirz's book, Washington Deco, was published. Now out of print, this was the last formal survey of Art Deco architecture in Washington. Striner, now a professor of history at Washington College at Chestertown, Maryland, is still active in the society. He recently published Father Abraham: Lincoln's Relentless Struggle to End Slavery.
The ADSW board is comprised of about a dozen people, and has a preservation chair, an education chair and an Expo chair. The membership is made up of over 300 people who represent all levels of activity. There is a much smaller cohort of steady volunteers, perhaps a dozen more beyond the board, but they get many more for ad hoc events and specials functions.
The Society's funding comes from membership fees, program events, and Expo admission fees and dealers' booth rentals.
The ADSW is loosely affiliated with the International Congress of Art Deco Societies, which has member societies throughout the U.S. and in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the U.K., and South Africa.
I asked Lyons for some major accomplishments of the ADSW. She cited the following projects as a few that they assisted with in getting landmark status granted: the Greenbelt Center in Greenbelt, MD, built in 1937; the Silver Theatre in Silver Spring, MD, built in 1938; and, the Greyhound Terminal, which is now the lobby of 1100 New York Avenue NW, built in 1940. More projects are underway.
A big event for the ADSW is the annual Exposition of the Decorative Arts. (See more on ADSW events at www.adsw.org/event). The Expo is a dealer's show, with an emphasis on Art Deco artifacts and a certain amount of mid-century modern artifacts. Over 40 dealers come from the Mid-Atlantic region, with a wide variety of goods, such as furniture, jewelry, books, clothing and much more.
Were there any missed opportunities?
"The one preservation campaign I was involved with was the Bethesda Theatre, which was sort of a cousin of the Silver Theatre," Lyons said. "It had recognition as a landmark, but a building was built on top of it. We might have been willing to compromise on setting the new building back 50 feet, but the developer claimed he couldn't set it back at all, and the Historic Preservation Commission of Montgomery County finally settled approximately 26 feet. The theater looks like an appendage to its new building, unlike the Greyhound Terminal in Washington (pictured at right), where you can see the whole terminal."
Do you have to be an Art Deco aficionado to join the ADSW?
"No," Lyons said. "We're open to all. It just takes an interest. Membership gives you the opportunity to get to know people and socialize with kindred spirits. And, you get access to experts and information. It's the opportunity to learn."
What kinds of volunteer opportunities are there?
"Some which I mentioned earlier, including serving on the board," she said. "We also want to update the current Art Deco Building Inventory by doing a new survey. Some buildings are gone now. The last survey was done in 1984 and a lot has changed since then. We'll need many volunteers for that."
Volunteers for the survey don't need to be experts, and the ADSW will give guidance. Volunteers, who will go out in teams, will take pictures, note name changes and any other changes. "We would like to ultimately create a brief description of buildings, and maybe identify any that have been missed," Lyons concluded.
After the interview my interest moved beyond curiosity. I learned more about Art Deco and its many manifestations in art, clothing, dancing, architecture and more. But I also learned that there is a trove of sites in the Washington area influenced by this style, hundreds of them, some which may have been missed.
All of these sites are not protected, however; some are in danger and others could also be one day. They are a part of our past, and represent a vibrancy of their time. Passivity will not preserve them, and organizations like the ADSW fight the good fight through education and activism.
Readers who have an interest in joining or getting involved with the Art Deco Society of Washington are invited to visit their website at www.ADSW.org. Their site has complete information on membership and volunteering.
Copyright © 2006 by Terry Carter.
Terry Carter is a Realtor, a writer and a Penn Quarter resident.