Lafayette Square is a productive place for taking stock of various architectural styles that cycled through America between 1860 and the present. Walking around this compact district reveals meticulously restored examples of French Second Empire, Italianate, Greek Revival, Federal, and even Flounder styles.
One type of exterior trend, Art Deco, has only one example I’m aware of in the Square, but it’s a beauty. It presides from along Chouteau at the foot of Dolman Street. Here is home to the Eden Lofts apartments.
Further adoption of French building arts
Art Deco was a short-lived movement that spread from France with its 1925 Paris Arts Exposition. The style quickly caught on, fed by the enthusiastic speculation of the late 1920s. It finally gave way to the next trend, Air Moderne design, with the onset of World War II.
While it lasted, signature buildings incorporating Art Deco elements went up in major American cities. Key characteristics included verticality with terraced setbacks, the use of chrome, glass and steel, and ornamentation in geometric patterns…