Everything You Need to Know About Art Deco Home Design in 2026

Elevator lobby in the Four Fifty Sutter Building in San Francisco, California. The building was completed in 1929.

Art Deco is a decorative arts, architecture, and design movement that began in the mid-1920s and continued through 1940. Known for its sleek, symmetrical lines and rich materials, it’s characterized by an emphasis on industrial innovation, opulent decoration, and fine craftsmanship.

When it comes to architecture specifically, Art Deco is largely about verticality, as new engineering techniques and materials led to the rise of steel skyscrapers. Pulling from the other parts of the design movement, Art Deco architecture also featured geometric patterns and flamboyant ornamentation.

“Art Deco may best be described as a popular form of modernism. If we think of modern architecture in its most rigorous form as having stripped away ornament and replaced it with glass-and-steel austerity, Art Deco responds with Jazz-Age glamour and sophisticated urbanity,” says Tom McDonough, an art history professor from Binghamton University, State University of New York. “Think streamlined silhouettes, curved corners, and rhythmic composition, not strict geometry and cubic form. Think the Chrysler Building, not Lever House.”

The term Art Deco comes from the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris, where arts décoratifs, meaning “decorative arts” in French, was shortened to Art Deco. At this exposition, Art Deco architects, designers, and artists showcased a new, modern style intended to break away from the flowing, natural forms of Art Nouveau. Launched into international prominence, Art Deco spread globally during the next 15 years.

“Its appeal was easy to convey in photographs, which meant it quickly found a global reach, extending from Paris and New York to Mumbai, Shanghai, and beyond,” says McDonough. “Everywhere it spread, its designs offered people a means to identify themselves with what was new, modern, cosmopolitan.”

Union Station in Los Angeles, built in 1939.

Art Deco is inextricably tied to the social atmosphere of the 1920s. “Art Deco responded to the atmosphere of the Roaring Twenties, the release and relief felt at the end of the First World War,” says McDonough. “It replaced the ascetic intellectualism—not to say puritanism—of much modern architecture with an image of hedonistic desirability.”

But Art Deco was also directly linked to industrial progress, too. The rise of mass production and the advent of new materials such as stainless steel, chrome plating, and plastics, including Bakelite allowed designers to create sleek, streamlined forms.

“Designers were fascinated by machinery, speed, and the efficiency of industrial production, which can be seen in the sleek and streamlined forms,” says Hardwick-Bruce.

Art Deco certainly wasn’t the only art and design movement that drew from those influences. Before it came Cubism, Futurism, and Bauhaus, which promoted technology with an aesthetic vision—these styles directly influenced the development of Art Deco.

And finally, there’s the matter of global discoveries. Though Art Deco is a forward-looking style celebrating the machine age, its adherents also incorporated elements from ancient cultures, such as Egyptian and Mayan art, into their work. “The discovery of King Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922 sparked a fascination with Egyptian art and symbolism, bringing elements like scarabs, sphinxes, and pyramids into the Art Deco style,” says Hardwick-Bruce.

Eventually, the Great Depression and World War II shifted the cultural and economic landscape, and Art Deco began to fade in popularity. While new, more austere architectural styles took over—examples include the International Style, Midcentury Modernism, and Brutalism—Art Deco’s influence remains visible in many buildings and design objects around the world.

Geometric Forms and Symmetry

Opulent materials lend an Art Deco vibe to a Manhattan apartment designed by Nannette Brown.

The hallmark of Art Deco architecture lies in its geometric precision. Buildings are structured with sharp, clean lines, often forming stepped or ziggurat shapes—again, a nod to ancient cultures.

Ornamentation and Decorative Elements

While geometric forms establish structure, ornamentation adds visual richness.

“Common motifs include zigzags, chevrons, sunbursts, and trapezoidal shapes,” says Hardwick-Bruce. “An example of this includes The Chrysler Building in New York City, which has sharp geometric details, with a sunburst pattern crowning its spire.”

Verticality and Height

Art Deco buildings, particularly skyscrapers, are characterized by their vertical emphasis, often accentuated by narrow, elongated windows. Such tall, sleek forms were meant to reflect progress, ambition, and the upward mobility of society.

Use of Color

Art Deco designers were not afraid to use color.

“Art Deco color palettes often featured vibrant, saturated colors, including deep greens, gold, silver, bright reds, and metallic finishes,” says Hardwick-Bruce. This was not only featured on the exterior of structures but also in interior design.

Lavish Materials

A Deco-inspired bedroom in Chicago by designer Erin Shakoor.

“Designers used opulent materials such as lacquer, polished wood, chrome, glass, and exotic materials like ivory or sharkskin to exude luxury,” says Hardwick-Bruce. “Furniture pieces by Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann often used rich veneers and inlays of ivory, giving them a sophisticated and expensive appearance.”

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