On a rain-drenched spring afternoon, as the Delhi Metro winded its way from the bustling Rajiv Chowk hub towards the dustier, one-storeyed agglomerations of west Delhi, a bunch of foreign tourists began talking animatedly. To fellow commuters, a cluster of words was distinctly audible, repeated as they were over and over again. These words were: Art Deco, Architecture and ‘a lot like Mumbai’. So, what had piqued the interest of this group of foreigners? It was the concentration, in near-rustic west Delhi, of buildings designed in the Art Deco style of architecture.

If you take the Metro from Rajiv Chowk to Rajouri Garden, it’s easy to spot the veritable treasure trove of Art Deco heritage structures en route – built in the period of global economic resurgence between the First and the Second World Wars. The recent box office release directed by Anurag Kashyap -- ‘Bombay Velvet’ – features this architectural style prominently, especially in the façade and interiors of the eponymous Bombay Velvet Club.

Today, Art Deco is an unusual but germane aspect of contemporary Delhi. Covered by voluminous green frontages in New Delhi and hidden in the dusty bylanes of Old Delhi exist distinctly-built Art Deco buildings. Unlike other heritage structures in the Capital --- tombs, forts and parks frequented by local and foreign tourists --- Art Deco is heritage that people live amid and in. Among some major Art Deco public buildings still surviving in Delhi are: The Imperial Hotel, Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) building on Shahjehan Road, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) building on Copernicus Marg, Golcha, Moti Mahal and Delite theatres in Daryaganj and Liberty Cinema in Karol Bagh. Other than these, a number of residences and commercial complexes built in Art Deco style exist in Daryaganj, Karol Bagh, Patel Nagar, Jangpura and Nizamuddin.


Art Deco, like its forerunner Art Nouveau, was an eclectic style and drew on many sources. Designers sought to infuse jaded traditions with new life and to create a modern style based on a revitalised decorative language. The word Art Deco derives from an exposition held in the year 1925 – the ‘Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs Industriels et Modernes’ -- in Paris. The show was organised by an association of French artists known as ‘La Societe des Artistes Decorateurs’ (Society of Decorator Artists), led by its founders Hector Guimard, Eugene Grasset, Raoul Lachenal, Paul Follot, Maurice Dufrene, and Emile Decour. However, the term Art Deco was not widely used until popularised by the art historian and critic Bevis Hillier in her book ‘Art Deco of the 20s and 30s’ (1968).

The structure of Art Deco is founded on geometric shapes inspired equally by Greco-Roman Classicism and faceted architectural forms of Babylon, Assyria, Ancient Egypt, and Aztec Mexico -- notably their ziggurats, pyramids and other monumental structures. It also drew upon Machine Age streamline designs from aviation, the radio, and the skyscraper. In particular, Art Deco designs are characterised by trapezoidal, zigzagged and triangular shapes, chevron patterns, stepped forms, sweeping curves and sunburst motifs.

Today, most of these quirky, heavy-on-geometric-design structures in Delhi have fallen into disrepair. Apart from lack of awareness about their heritage value, years of structural wear and tear have taken a toll on these period structures. An added concern is the imminent demolition of these decades-old, sprawling buildings to make way for high-rises and commercial complexes.


“Part of this building has been our home for the last 60 years. My parents told me there used to be several parties and late-night soiries. But as times changed, it became difficult to manage the big house and we became tenants in a part of the structure,” says Payal Sharma, who resides in an Art Deco residence in Karol Bagh. Although the entire structure is now in bad shape, a sun-burst motif on the entrance, perfectly-symmetrical and eye-catching, is quite a throwback to the glory days of Art Deco buildings.

The Art Deco style was not limited to just architecture. It left its indelible imprint on interior design, poster art, furniture, jewellery, textiles, fashion and industrial design, although it was also applied to the visual arts such as painting, and graphics.

In architecture, the Art Deco look signalled something of a return to the symmetry and simplicity of Neo-classicism, but without its classical regularity. The fact that Art Deco architectural designs were so enthusiastically adopted by architects in countries as diverse as India and Brazil, the United Kingdom and the Philippines, Argentina, Romania, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Cuba and Indonesia speaks volumes for the style’s novel monumentality.

Almost a century after it first made an appearance, Art Deco seems to be in resurgence, yet again. The style, adopted enthusiastically by architects and designers around the world, spanned the “Roaring Twenties”, the Great Depression of the early 1930s, and the years leading up to the Second World War. It suffered a decline in popularity during the late 1930s and early 1940s, when it began to be seen as too gaudy and ostentatious for wartime austerity, after which it quickly fell out of fashion. The first resurgence of interest in Art Deco occurred in the 1960s -- coinciding with the movement’s effect on Pop Art -- and then again in the 1980s, in line with growing concentration on graphic design.

Art Deco owed something to several of the major art styles of the early 20th century. These formative influences include the geometric forms of Cubism (Art Deco has also been called ‘Cubism Tamed’), the machine-style forms of Constructivism and Futurism, and the unifying approach of Art Nouveau. Its highly intense colours may have stemmed from Parisian Fauvism. Art Deco borrowed from Classical Antiquity also.

In India, Mumbai has the largest concentration of Art Deco buildings, sometimes said to be second only to Miami (US), the global Art Deco capital. In an interview to UAE-based newspaper ‘The National’, Navin Ramani, author of ‘Bombay Art Deco Architecture’, says, “From entire clusters of office blocks and low-rise, spacious apartment buildings to hotels and cinema halls built in the 1930s and 40s, the Art Deco architecture of Mumbai is a visual delight and a design enthusiast’s dream come true.” Ramani grew up in an art deco building owned by his family, before moving to the United States. “Many of these buildings are glorious in their timeless beauty and elegance.

The Art Deco style in Mumbai was characterised by elegant features such as fountains, stylised plants and flowers, imposing motifs, set-back upper levels and so much more. Some of the most gorgeous structures include the New India Assurance Company building at Fort, the charming Eros cinema with its Parisian influence, in Churchgate, the opulent design of the Liberty cinema at Marine Lines, the New Empire cinema hall at Fort, and the numerous private residences in some of the most elite areas of the city.”

As the nation’s Capital, Delhi may be home to a large number of heritage monuments, most of which have been the subject of much academic research and public interest. Yet, the Capital’s connect with Art Deco architecture remains largely unknown. There is an urgent need to preserve Art Deco buildings in Delhi and raise awareness about this pre-Independence architectural heritage ---- which is fast losing ground, literally.

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