What real estate agents need to know about the homes of the Roaring Twenties

Housing styles took a sharp turn away from traditional styles with the introduction of Art Deco design, and a new era in home architecture emerged. Gerard Splendor explains what you should know about the homes of this period.

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American housing patterns have changed, and continue to change, across the country and the evolution of homeowners’ tastes and lifestyles. As the country has gone through industrial and economic changes, whether good or not, housing patterns have adapted out of necessity.

In this new series, I’ll share with you the prevailing housing styles over the past 12 decades, beginning in 1900. A basic understanding of each architectural style defines a decade that will position you as a knowledgeable agent with your clients and make your home search with buyers easier for all.

From a 100-plus-year perspective, talking about the “modern age” might sound comical, but that’s how the 1920s were known. housing patterns It departed sharply from traditional styles, and with the introduction of the Art Deco design style from France, a new era in home architecture emerged.

Art Deco was first seen in commercial buildings in New York, such as the Chrysler Building. In 1922, the Tribune headquarters in Chicago was another example of the Art Deco style on a large scale.

Luster and sophistication are the sentiments most closely associated with Art Deco. the interior Features geometric lines, bold colors, and bold mirrors. Metal, especially chrome and aluminum, was seen inside and outside homes in the 1920s in contrast to wood and brick. Characterized by the pointed Gothic arch, Neo-Gothic buildings feature finials and patterns on interior and exterior decorations, and scallops in brickwork and woodwork.

The Roaring Twenties, a period of rebellious thought and the avant-garde movement in art and design, furthered the introduction of Art Deco. New technologies were incorporated into the materials, plumbing and heating of the Art Deco house.

Eclectic, rather than pure, design incorporated modern and classic design elements, deliberately bypassing pre-WWI traditions.

Art Deco can be called a group of styles in its determination to avoid direct historical references. It is one of the most influential decorative styles of the first half of the twentieth century. Functions and pure architectural forms that exhibit radical extremes are part of the Art Deco vocabulary.

In conjunction with Art Deco, introduced by Walter Gropius in Germany around 1919, is the Bauhaus movement. The purity of form and the reality of nature are two other sides of the Art Deco style.

While the Art Deco style of the 1920s combines many aestheticsWhat did an actual house look like in the 1920s? Servants and multiple generations living in one home are becoming less common. Streamlined interiors that were easy to take care of became a priority and modern kitchens with the latest streamlined appliances, including washing machines, were evident.

Homes now had telephones, and “corners” to house a telephone, some with built-in seating, were items in new homes. Often located between bedrooms and bathroom, phone corners were niches in the wall with a box under the small shelf to hold the phone.

The first residential telephones were too small to accommodate a telephone bell and other electronic parts, so these parts were placed in a separate box, which was installed in the back of the lower compartment. A cord attached to both the phone and the shelf conveniently holds a phone book, a pencil, and a letter paper. A telephone nook is a sure sign of a 1920s home.

Garages were rarely seen in Art Deco homes, although cars were available. Homeowners who own cars parked on the street near their homes.

Realtors who can identify historical elements of homes from different periods can easily talk to their clients about why homes are built or designed the way they are. If historical methods are important to buyers, a broker who can discuss them has an advantage. If buyers are looking for more modern or modern homes with modern amenities, a knowledgeable realtor should only consider the age of the home to determine if it will work for the buyer.