The 23 Most Famous Art Deco Buildings Around the World

Designed by architect William Van Alen in the 1920s, the Chrysler Building’s signature art deco elements include its seven terraced arches at the top with their vaulted windows, geometric accents, and steel eagle heads. For a short time, before the Empire State Building was completed, it even held the title of the tallest structure in New York City.

The Waldorf Astoria hotel is an institution in New York City and its instantly recognizable art deco building, completed at the height of the Jazz Age in 1931, has become a symbol of the city’s cultural and social life.

The iconic Ocean Drive hotel is one of the most notable examples of the art deco movement in South Beach. Designed by L. Murray Dixon, The Tides was the tallest hotel in Florida when it was completed in 1936 and features classic art deco elements such as angular and geometric shapes.

Built for the Exposition Internationale in 1937, the Palais de Chaillot’s arch-shaped structures combine elements of both modernism and classicism. And while its beautiful art deco architecture has made it one of the most important monuments in the City of Light, the breathtaking views it offers of the Eiffel Tower are just one more reason to visit it next time you are in Paris.

This art deco gem and American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts property at the heart of London’s Mayfair was once considered an extension of Buckingham Palace and its lavish interiors are very much worthy of royalty. Designed by the same architect responsible for Harrod’s, the Claridges Hotel’s art deco features include a stunning ballroom and its lobby that sports black-and-white marble floors.

The Griffith Observatory has been attracting visitors with its impressive panoramic views of Los Angeles and gorgeous art deco architecture since 1935. The building was designed by John C. Austin (also responsible for another notable art deco landmark in L.A.—its City Hall ) and Frederick Ashley and consists of a central planetarium and two smaller domes.

Completed in just over a year, the 103-story skyscraper in the heart of Manhattan has become a symbol of the city. It also remained the tallest building in the world for 40 years. The building’s stunning art deco architecture including  its 200-foot crowning spire still commands the attention of millions of visitors so it’s not surprising that the Empire State Building is the most photographed structure in the world.

With its striking teal terra-cotta façade, the Eastern Columbia Building is one of the finest examples of art deco architecture in L.A. Designed by Claud Beelman, the building opened its doors in September 1930, after just nine months of construction.

A city like Lisbon, with its decades-old history, has no shortage of impressive buildings, but the Orion Eden Hotel with its atrium and lush tropical garden definitely stands out. The building used to be a cinema until 1989 and still features the words “Eden Teatro” on its stone art deco façade.

Combining influences from the art deco, gothic, and art nouveau periods, the Tuschinski cinema makes an impression both with its peculiar exterior that resembles a cathedral, and dazzling décor that, after its opening in 1921, treated its guests to unique, for its time, amenities such as its state-of-the-art movie screen.

Palais de la Mediterranée, now a Hyatt Regency Hotel, truly epitomizes the glamour of the art deco period in France. With its magnificent façade, inspired by the Paris Opéra Garnier, and interior décor (marble staircase, stained glass windows) fit for royalty, it quickly became a playground (quite literally, too, since it also houses a casino) for the world’s rich and famous.

Located opposite Monaco’s most famous luxury hotel, the Hôtel de Paris, on the Place du Casino, the Café de Paris had an art deco makeover in the 1930s when its original minarets and domes were removed and its faience details were replaced by frieze more fitting of the architecture trend du jour. 

Originally called the Sassoon House, the historic Fairmont Peace hotel was known as one of the most luxurious properties in the Far East. The musicians in its Old Jazz Bar regularly performed in front of a packed room that was a meeting place for the world’s elite.

Dubbed the most beautiful metro station in Moscow, the magnificent Mayakovskaya metro station, designed by Alexey Dushkin, won the international Grand Prix for Architecture in Paris in 1937 and in New York two years later. With its widely-spaced, stainless steel columns and domed ceilings sporting beautiful mosaics, it is no wonder the station is considered such a fine example of art deco architecture.

While Spanish aesthetics are clearly reflected in the architecture of the stunning seven-story Majorca building in Melbourne—most notably in its blue terracotta façade—the design of the structure also echoes the art deco period during which it was built.

Situated high above the Ottawa river, the imposing building of Canada’s Supreme Court was conceived by renowned Montréal architect Ernest Cormier in the late 1930s. Its symmetrical design and the use of geometric forms were inspired by the simplicity of the art deco period.

Together with Palais de Chaillot and Palais des Musées d’Art Moderne, the Palais de Tokyo was one of the three original buildings erected in Paris after art deco first emerged as a new style in the City of Light. And its modern design completely epitomizes the aesthetics of that period.

The National Diet Building took almost 17 years to complete (from January 1920 to November 1936) and is a prime example of the art deco influence in the Land of the Rising Sun. One of its most impressive features are its stained glass windows located in the Central Hall.

Edificio Bacardí, one of Havana’s most notable landmarks, served as headquarters of the Bacardi Rum company from 1930 until 1960 and was, for a very long time, the city’s tallest building. The gorgeous art deco design conceived by architects Esteban Rodríguez-Castells and Rafael Fernández Ruenes, features golden glazed tiles and a tower crowned with a bronze bat—the Bacardi logo.

Mexico’s first art museum opened its doors in 1934 and has since attracted the attention of millions of visitors not only with its outstanding art exhibitions and theatrical performances but also with its breathtaking façade and interior design. While Art Nouveau and Neoclassicism inspired its exterior, architect Federico Mariscal completed the interior in art deco style.

Prominent San Francisco architect Timothy Pflueger was tasked with designing what would become the largest multi-purpose venue on the West Coast in 1931. For the project, Pflueger looked for inspiration to the trending, at the time, art deco movement that had emerged in Paris a few years prior. The theater’s most prominent feature—namely the 100-feet high mosaic of a man and a woman—is made up of about 70 colors and symbolizes “the guiding part of the theatrical and motion picture industry.”

Unlike most art deco landmarks completed in the 1920s and 1930s, Salvador da Bahia’s Lacerda Elevator actually predates the movement by more than 50 years. The elevator’s towers were given a modern update in 1930, which is when it was transformed into an art deco gem.

Named after its first owner, the French painter Jacques Majorelle who purchased land in the El Hassania neighborhood of Marrakech in 1924, the breathtaking Jardin Mojorelle has become one of Marrakech’s must-see and most visited landmarks. In 1931, Majorelle commissioned Paul Sinoir to build a villa and an art deco studio for him in “Majorelle blue.”  Thankfully, in 1980, designer Yves Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Bergé purchased the estate to keep it functioning as a public garden so people can enjoy its beauty to this day