An architectural style is a classification of buildings (and nonbuilding structures ) based on a set of characteristics and features, including overall appearance, arrangement of the components, method of construction , building materials used, form , size, structural design , and regional character.
72-548: Ranch (also known as American ranch , California ranch , rambler , or rancher ) is a domestic architectural style that originated in the United States. The ranch-style house is noted for its long, close-to-the-ground profile, and wide open layout. The style fused modernist ideas and styles with notions of the American Western period of wide open spaces to create a very informal and casual living style. While
144-529: A carnival atmosphere along multi-lane highways , in motel architecture and above all in commercial signage . The influence of Googie was prominently seen in the architecture and signage of Los Angeles and Las Vegas circa 1945–1970, where many of the same architects who designed Googie coffee shops in Los Angeles went on to design some of the seminal hotels and casinos in Las Vegas. Private clients were
216-470: A "Doo Wop Preservation League" works with local business and property owners, city planning and zoning officials, and the state's historic preservation office, to help ensure that the remaining historic structures will be preserved. Wildwood's high-rise hotel district has been the first in the US to enforce "Doo Wop" design guidelines for new construction. The architect Michael Hsu designed multiple restaurants for
288-419: A "protection against chaos". The concept of style was foreign to architects until the 18th century. Prior to the era of Enlightenment , the architectural form was mostly considered timeless, either as a divine revelation or an absolute truth derived from the laws of nature, and a great architect was the one who understood this "language". The new interpretation of history declared each historical period to be
360-418: A central downtown but could spread out to the suburbs , where business hubs could be interspersed with residential areas. The suburbs offered less congestion by offering the same businesses, but accessible by car. Instead of one main store downtown, businesses now had multiple stores in suburban areas. This new trend required owners and architects to develop a visual imagery so customers would recognize it from
432-563: A family nickname of Lillian K. Burton, the wife of the restaurant's original owner, Mortimer C. Burton, and aunt of musician Peter Matz . Googies was located at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Crescent Heights in Los Angeles but was demolished in 1989. The name Googie became a rubric for the architectural style when editor Douglas Haskell of House and Home magazine and architectural photographer Julius Shulman were driving through Los Angeles one day. Haskell insisted on stopping
504-401: A house to be classified by realtors as a raised ranch, there must be a flight of steps to get to the main living floor – which distinguishes it from a split-level house . The ranch house style was adapted for commercial use during the time of the style's popularity. As the concept of a "drive-in" shopping center was being created and popularized, the ranch style was a perfect style to fit into
576-512: A new appreciation for the style. Despite the humble origins of Googie, Hess writes that, "Googie architecture is an important part of the history of suburbia." Googie was a symbol of the early days of car culture . One of the earliest organizations in the US that advocated for the preservation of Googie architecture was the Los Angeles Conservancy Modern Committee, which was formed in 1984 in response to
648-522: A number of styles which have acquired other names. Architectural styles often spread to other places, so that the style at its source continues to develop in new ways while other countries follow with their own twist. For instance, Renaissance ideas emerged in Italy around 1425 and spread to all of Europe over the next 200 years, with the French, German, English, and Spanish Renaissances showing recognisably
720-664: A place in history that is independent of its author. The subject of study no longer was the ideas that Borromini borrowed from Maderno who in turn learned from Michelangelo , instead the questions now were about the continuity and changes observed when the architecture transitioned from Renaissance to Baroque . Semper, Wölfflin, and Frankl, and later Ackerman, had backgrounds in the history of architecture, and like many other terms for period styles, "Romanesque" and "Gothic" were initially coined to describe architectural styles, where major changes between styles can be clearer and more easy to define, not least because style in architecture
792-572: A revival of interest in the ranch style house occurred in United States. The renewed interest in the design is mainly focused on existing houses and neighborhoods, not new construction. Younger house buyers find that ranch houses are affordable entry level homes in many markets, and the single story living of the house attracts older buyers looking for a house they can navigate easily as they age. The houses' uniquely American heritage, being an indigenous design, has furthered interest as well. The houses' simplicity and unpretentious nature, in marked contrast to
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#1732786706249864-483: A series of Streamline Moderne drive-ins during the 1930s; though he did not have formal training as an architect, he had been offered a scholarship at the architecture school at the University of Pennsylvania because of his skill. McAllister developed a brand for coffee shop chains by developing a style for each client – which also allowed customers to easily recognize a store from the road. Along with McAllister,
936-414: A stage of growth for the humanity (cf. Johann Gottfried Herder 's Volksgeist that much later developed into Zeitgeist ). This approach allowed to classify architecture of each age as an equally valid approach, "style" (the use of the word in this sense became established by the mid-18th century). Style has been subject of an extensive debate since at least the 19th century. Many architects argue that
1008-474: A two-story ranch home will save space, allowing for more square feet of living space on the same footprint. Variants include the California Ranch, Suburban Ranch, Split-Level Ranch, Raised Ranch and Storybook Ranch. The raised ranch is a two-story house in which a finished basement serves as an additional floor. It may be built into a slope to utilize the terrain or minimize its profile. For
1080-405: Is a building; Lincoln Cathedral is a piece of architecture" ( Nikolaus Pevsner , 1943). Nonetheless, the traditional and popular approach to the architectural history is through chronology of styles, with changes reflecting the evolution of materials, economics, fashions, and beliefs. Works of architecture are unlikely to be preserved for their aesthetic value alone; with practical re-purposing,
1152-465: Is a depressing affair indeed". According to James Elkins "In the later 20th century criticisms of style were aimed at further reducing the Hegelian elements of the concept while retaining it in a form that could be more easily controlled". In the middle of the 19th century, multiple aesthetic and social factors forced architects to design the new buildings using a selection of styles patterned after
1224-468: Is a tract of ranch-style houses built on and adjacent to Butte Court in Shafter, California, in 2007/08. These houses borrowed their style cues from the 1950s Western-styled ranch houses, with board and batten siding, dovecotes, large eaves, and extensive porches. Notably, all houses in this tract were on 1/4-acre lots, and had their front garages turned sideways so that the garage doors were not dominating
1296-707: Is a type of futurist architecture influenced by car culture , jets , the Atomic Age and the Space Age . It originated in Southern California from the Streamline Moderne architecture of the 1930s, and was popular in the United States from roughly 1945 to the early 1970s. Googie-themed architecture was popular among roadside businesses, including motels , coffee houses and gas stations . The style later became widely known as part of
1368-414: Is easier to replicate by following a set of rules than style in figurative art such as painting. Terms originated to describe architectural periods were often subsequently applied to other areas of the visual arts, and then more widely still to music, literature and the general culture. In architecture stylistic change often follows, and is made possible by, the discovery of new techniques or materials, from
1440-508: Is not a style, but an application of local customs to small-scale construction without clear identity of the builder. The concept of architectural style is studied in the architectural history as one of the approaches ("style and period") that are used to organize the history of architecture (Leach lists five other approaches as "biography, geography and culture, type, technique, theme and analogy"). Style provides an additional relationship between otherwise disparate buildings, thus serving as
1512-561: Is revived, it is different. The Spanish mission style was revived 100 years later as the Mission Revival , and that soon evolved into the Spanish Colonial Revival . Early writing on the subjects of architectural history, since the works of Vitruvius in the 1st century B.C. , treated architecture as a patrimony that was passed on to the next generation of architects by their forefathers. Giorgio Vasari in
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#17327867062491584-609: The booming post-war middle class of the 1940s to the 1970s. The style is often associated with tract housing built at this time, particularly in the southwest United States, which experienced a population explosion during this period, with a corresponding demand for housing. The style was soon exported to other nations and became popular worldwide. Its popularity waned in the late twentieth century as neo-eclectic house styles featuring historical and traditional decoration became more popular. Preservationist movements have begun in some ranch house neighborhoods, reinforced by an interest in
1656-566: The mid-century modern style, elements of which represent the populuxe aesthetic, as in Eero Saarinen 's TWA Terminal . The term Googie comes from the now-defunct Googies Coffee Shop in Hollywood designed by John Lautner . Similar architectural styles are also referred to as Populuxe or Doo Wop . Features of Googie include upswept roofs, curvilinear, geometric shapes, and bold use of glass , steel and neon . Googie
1728-429: The post-Modern period at the end of the 20th century. The common elements that generally distinguish Googie from other forms of architecture are: The boomerang shape was another design element that captured movement. It was used structurally in place of a pillar or aesthetically as a stylized arrow. Hess writes that the boomerang was a stylistic rendering of a directional energy field. Editor Douglas Haskell described
1800-468: The southwestern United States . By the 1950s, the California ranch house, by now often called simply the ranch house or "rambler house", accounted for nine out of every ten new houses. The seemingly endless ability of the style to accommodate the individual needs of the owner/occupant, combined with the very modern inclusion of the latest in building developments and simplicity of the design, satisfied
1872-629: The 16th century shifted the narrative to biographies of the great artists in his " Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects ". Constructing schemes of the period styles of historic art and architecture was a major concern of 19th century scholars in the new and initially mostly German-speaking field of art history . Important writers on the broad theory of style including Carl Friedrich von Rumohr , Gottfried Semper , and Alois Riegl in his Stilfragen of 1893, with Heinrich Wölfflin and Paul Frankl continued
1944-556: The 1910s–1930s, Googie became less valued as time passed, and many buildings in this style have been destroyed. Some examples have been preserved, though, such as the oldest McDonald's stand (located in Downey, California ). The origin of the name Googie dates to 1949, when architect John Lautner designed the Googies Coffee Shop in Hollywood , which had distinct architectural characteristics. The name "Googie" had been
2016-425: The 1930s, Streamline Moderne became popular because of the high energy silhouettes its sleek designs created. These buildings featured rounded edges, large pylons and neon lights, all symbolizing, according to Hess, "invisible forces of speed and energy", that reflect the influx of mobility that cars , locomotives and zeppelins brought. Streamline Moderne, much like Googie, was styled to look futuristic to signal
2088-644: The 1960s, following the Apollo 11 Moon landing , the rise of ecology movements against nuclear power , and the de-escalations of the Space Race and the Atomic Age , Googie began to fall out of style. The architectural community rarely appreciated or accepted Googie, considering it too flashy and vernacular for academic praise, and so the architecture of the 1970s, especially the International Style , shunned Googie. As Hess notes, beginning during
2160-426: The 1970s, commercial buildings were meant to blend into the urban environment and not attract attention. By the mid 1960s, the novelty of Googie was starting to wane and there was a backlash against the flashy style. Since Googie buildings were usually part of the service industry , most developers did not think they were worth preserving as cultural artifacts. The publication of Googie by Alan Hess in 1986 inspired
2232-539: The Austin-based restaurant P. Terry's in the Googie style. Each location is uniquely designed, featuring oblique shapes, color, and large geometric roofs. Googie architecture developed from the futuristic architecture of Streamline Moderne , extending and reinterpreting technological themes for the new conditions of the 1950s. While 1930s architecture was relatively simple, Googie embraced opulence. Hess argues that
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2304-470: The Gothic rib vault to modern metal and reinforced concrete construction. A major area of debate in both art history and archaeology has been the extent to which stylistic change in other fields like painting or pottery is also a response to new technical possibilities, or has its own impetus to develop (the kunstwollen of Riegl), or changes in response to social and economic factors affecting patronage and
2376-577: The State of New Jersey. The term "doo-wop" was used by New Jersey's Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts during the early 1990s to describe the unique, space-age architectural style. Many of Wildwood's Doo-Wop motels were built by Lou Morey, who specialized in such designs. His Ebb Tide Motel, built during 1957 and demolished during 2003, is credited as the first Doo-Wop motel in Wildwood Crest. After
2448-420: The abstract Googie style, saying that "If it looks like a bird, this must be a geometric bird." Also, the buildings must appear to defy gravity, as Haskell noted: "whenever possible, the building must hang from the sky". Haskell's third tenet for Googie was that it have more than one theme—more than one structural system. Because of its need to be noticed from moving automobiles along the commercial strip, Googie
2520-560: The attention of motorists since the invention of the car, but during the 1950s the style became more widespread. The identity of the first architect to practice in the style is often disputed, though Wayne McAllister was one early and influential architect in starting the style with his 1949 Bob's Big Boy restaurant in Burbank . McAllister got his start designing fashionable restaurants in Southern California, which led to
2592-489: The beginning of a new era – that of the automobile and other technologies. Drive-in services such as diners , movie theaters and filling stations built with the same principles developed to serve the new American city. Drive-ins had advanced car-oriented architectural design, as they were built with an expressive utilitarian style, circular and surrounded by a parking lot, allowing all customers equal access from their cars. These developments in consumer-oriented design set
2664-399: The car upon seeing Googies and proclaimed "This is Googie architecture." He popularized the name after an article he wrote appeared in a 1952 edition of House and Home magazine. Though Haskell coined the term Googie and was an advocate of modernism, he did not appreciate the Googie aesthetic. In his article he used the fictional Professor Thrugg's overly effusive praise to mock Googie, at
2736-482: The conditions of the artist, as current thinking tends to emphasize, using less rigid versions of Marxist art history. Although style was well-established as a central component of art historical analysis, seeing it as the over-riding factor in art history had fallen out of fashion by World War II, as other ways of looking at art were developing, and a reaction against the emphasis on style developing; for Svetlana Alpers , "the normal invocation of style in art history
2808-554: The corresponding broader artistic style and the "general human condition". Heinrich Wölfflin even declared an analogy between a building and a costume : an "architectural style reflects the attitude and the movement of people in the period concerned. The 21st century construction uses a multitude of styles that are sometimes lumped together as a " contemporary architecture " based on the common trait of extreme reliance on computer-aided architectural design (cf. Parametricism ). Folk architecture (also "vernacular architecture")
2880-483: The debate into the 20th century. Paul Jacobsthal and Josef Strzygowski are among the art historians who followed Riegl in proposing grand schemes tracing the transmission of elements of styles across great ranges in time and space. This type of art history is also known as formalism , or the study of forms or shapes in art. Wölfflin declared the goal of formalism as German : Kunstgeschichtliche Grundbegriffe , "art history without names", where an architect's work has
2952-743: The demolition of Ship's coffee shop in Westwood and Tiny Naylor's Drive-In in Hollywood. Despite the loss of these and the original Googie's in Hollywood, other Googie coffee shops including Norms Restaurants , Johnie's Coffee Shop , and the Wich Stand have received historic designations. The world's oldest McDonald's in Downey and the earliest remaining Bob's Big Boy in Burbank, have also been preserved and restored. In Wildwood, New Jersey ,
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3024-608: The efforts of citizens, the city of Downey, and historic preservationists, the structure was rebuilt and reopened in 2009 as a Bob's Big Boy restaurant. Another remaining example of Googie architecture still in operation is the main terminal at Washington Dulles International Airport , designed by Eero Saarinen in 1958. This terminal exemplifies the dramatic roof slope, large windows, and generous use of concrete, somewhat similar to Saarinen's TWA Flight Center . Classic locations for Googie style buildings are Miami Beach, Florida , where secondary commercial structures were adapted from
3096-540: The first Norms Restaurant , and the Holiday Bowl on Crenshaw Boulevard. America's interest in spaceflight had a significant influence on the unique style of Googie architecture. During the 1950s, space travel became a reality for the first time in history. In 1957 the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I , the first human-made satellite to achieve Earth orbit. The Soviet Union then launched Vostok 1 carrying
3168-464: The first human, Yuri Gagarin , into Earth orbit in 1961. The Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations made competing with the Soviets for dominance in space a national priority of considerable urgency and importance. This marked the beginning of the so-called " Space Race ". Googie-style signs usually boast sharp and bold angles, intended to suggest the aerodynamic features of a rocket ship. Also, at
3240-438: The front of the house. Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan specified that Walter White 's house in the television series be a Rancher. In an early draft of the script for the series' pilot episode , he described the house as "a three-bedroom RANCHER in a modest neighborhood. Weekend trips to Home Depot keep it looking tidy, but it'll never make the cover of ' Architectural Digest '." The real house used to film exteriors in
3312-675: The historical ones (working "in every style or none"), and style definition became a practical matter. The choice of an appropriate style was subject of elaborate discussions; for example, the Cambridge Camden Society had argued that the churches in the new British colonies should be built in the Norman style , so that the local architects and builders can go through the paces repeating the architectural history of England. Googie architecture Googie architecture ( / ˈ ɡ uː ɡ i / GOO -ghee )
3384-487: The houses often have owner modifications that add individual character to the fairly uniform style. As these houses were mostly built between 1945 and 1970, they have modern infrastructure and their heating/cooling systems, wiring, plumbing, windows, doors, and other systems can all be easily repaired and upgraded. Small-scale tract building of ranch houses ended in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Those still built today have usually been individual custom houses. One exception
3456-543: The houses to cut costs, eventually reducing the style down to a very bland and uninteresting house, with little of the charm and drama of the early versions. By the late 1970s, the ranch house was no longer the house of choice, and had been eclipsed by the neo-eclectic styles of the late 20th century. Very late custom ranch houses of the later 1970s begin to exhibit features of the neo-eclectics, such as dramatically elevated rooflines, grand entryways, and traditional detailing. These neo-eclectic houses typically continue many of
3528-508: The large tracts of ranch homes being built. Commercial ranch buildings, such as supermarkets and strip malls, typically follow the residential style with simple rustic trim, stucco or board and batten siding, exposed brick and shake roofs, and large windows. American tastes in architecture began to change in the late 1960s, a move away from Googie and Modernism and ranch houses towards more formal and traditional styles. Builders of ranch houses also began to simplify and cheapen construction of
3600-406: The lifestyle interior features of the ranch house, such as open floor plans, attached garages, eat-in kitchens, and built-in patios, though their exterior styling typically owes more to northern Europe or Italy or 18th and 19th century house styles than the ranch house. Neo-eclectic houses also have a significant level of formality in their design, both externally and internally, the exact opposite of
3672-465: The main patrons of Googie. Ultimately, the style became unfashionable and, over time, numerous examples of the Googie style have either fallen into disrepair or been destroyed completely. The exaggerated, once-futuristic Googie style exemplified in The Jetsons cartoons and the original Disneyland (which featured a Googie Tomorrowland ) gave birth several decades later to retrofuturism . Googie
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#17327867062493744-410: The mid-1960s onward, the ranch house echoed the national trend towards sleekness in design, with the homes becoming even simpler and more generic as this trend continued. Prominent features are of the original ranch house style include: Constructing a one-story ranch-style house requires a larger space and significant formwork, including foundation, roofing, windows, and various materials. In contrast,
3816-407: The more dramatic and formal nature of neo-eclectic houses, makes them appealing for some buyers. The more distinctive ranch houses, such as modernist Palmer and Krisel , Joseph Eichler and Cliff May designs, as well as custom houses with a full complement of the style's features, are in particular demand in many markets. Many ranch-style neighborhoods are now well-established, with large trees, and
3888-568: The needs of the time. Ranch houses were built throughout America and were often given regional facelifts to suit regional tastes. The "Colonial Ranch" of the Midwest is one such noted variant, adding American Colonial features to the facade of the California ranch house. Ranch houses of the 1940s and 1950s are typically more deliberately themed in nature than those of the 1960s and 1970s, with features such as dovecotes , Swiss board edging on trim, and generally western and even fantasy trim styling. From
3960-531: The needs of their inhabitants. Walls were often built of adobe brick and covered with plaster, or more simply used board and batten wood siding. Roofs were low and simple, and usually had wide eaves to help shade the windows from the Southwestern heat. Buildings often had interior courtyards which were surrounded by a U-shaped floor plan. Large front porches were also common. These low slung, thick-walled, rustic working ranches were common in what would become
4032-494: The notion of "style" cannot adequately describe the contemporary architecture, is obsolete and ridden with historicism . In their opinion, by concentrating on the appearance of the building, style classification misses the hidden from view ideas that architects had put into the form. Studying history of architecture without reliance on styles usually relies on a " canon " of important architects and buildings. The lesser objects in this approach do not deserve attention: "A bicycle shed
4104-552: The original intent of the original architect, sometimes his very identity, can be forgotten, and the building style becomes "an indispensable historical tool". Styles emerge from the history of a society. At any time several styles may be fashionable, and when a style changes it usually does so gradually, as architects learn and adapt to new ideas. The new style is sometimes only a rebellion against an existing style, such as postmodern architecture (meaning "after modernism"), which in 21st century has found its own language and split into
4176-467: The original ranch style was informal and basic in design, ranch-style houses built in the United States (particularly in the Sun Belt region) from around the early 1960s increasingly had more dramatic features such as varying roof lines, cathedral ceilings, sunken living rooms, and extensive landscaping and grounds. First appearing as a residential style in the 1920s, the ranch was extremely popular with
4248-491: The prolific Googie architects included John Lautner , Douglas Honnold, and the team of Louis Armet and Eldon Davis of Armet & Davis firm, which they founded in 1947. Also instrumental in developing the style was designer Helen Liu Fong , a member of the firm of Armet and Davis . Joining the firm during 1951, she created such Googie interiors as those of the Johnie's Coffee Shop on Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue,
4320-485: The public's imagination of the future. Googie architecture exploited this trend by incorporating energy into its design with elements such as the boomerang , diagonals, atomic bursts and bright colors. According to Hess, commercial architecture was influenced by the desires of the mass audience. The public was captivated by rocket ships and nuclear energy , so, in order to draw their attention, architects used these as motifs in their work. Buildings had been used to catch
4392-489: The reason for this was that the vision of the future of the 1930s was obsolete by 1950 and thus the architecture evolved along with it. During the 1930s, Streamlined trains and Lincoln-Zephyrs had been advanced technology, and Streamline Moderne paralleled their smooth simplified aerodynamic exteriors. That simplicity may have represented the Depression era's forced frugality. The eye-catching Googie style flourished in
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#17327867062494464-520: The resort style of Morris Lapidus and other hotel designers; the first phase of Las Vegas, Nevada ; and their birthplace of Southern California . The beachfront resort town of Wildwood, New Jersey , features an array of motel designs, colorfully described by such sub-styles as Vroom, Pu-Pu Platter, Phony Colonee and more. The district is known collectively as the Wildwoods Shore Resort Historic District by
4536-426: The road. This modern consumer architecture was based on communication. The new smaller suburban drive-in restaurants were essentially architectural signboards advertising the business to vehicles on the road. This was achieved by using bold style choices, including large pylons with elevated signs, bold neon letters and circular pavilions. Hess writes that because of the increase in mass production and travel during
4608-607: The same style, but with unique characteristics. An architectural style may also spread through colonialism , either by foreign colonies learning from their home country, or by settlers moving to a new land. One example is the Spanish missions in California , brought by Spanish priests in the late 18th century and built in a unique style . After an architectural style has gone out of fashion, revivals and re-interpretations may occur. For instance, classicism has been revived many times and found new life as neoclassicism . Each time it
4680-613: The same time lampooning Hollywood, which he felt informed the aesthetic. Googie's beginnings are with the Streamline Moderne architecture of the 1930s. Alan Hess , one of the most knowledgeable writers on the subject, writes in Googie: Ultra Modern Road Side Architecture that mobility in Los Angeles during the 1930s was characterized by the initial influx of the automobile and the service industry that evolved to cater to it. With car ownership increasing, cities no longer had to be centered on
4752-471: The series is located in Northeast Albuquerque , New Mexico , and was originally built in 1972. It has since become a popular tourist attraction. Architectural style Architectural styles are frequently associated with a historical epoch ( Renaissance style ), geographical location ( Italian Villa style ), or an earlier architectural style ( Neo-Gothic style ), and are influenced by
4824-465: The stage for Googie during the 1950s, since during the 1940s World War II and rationing caused a pause of development because of the imposed frugality on the American public. With the increasing prosperity of the United States during the 1950s, however, American designers celebrated this new affluence with optimistic designs. The development of nuclear power and the reality of spaceflight captivated
4896-420: The style from a younger generation who did not grow up in such homes. This revival has been compared to that which other house styles such as the bungalow and Queen Anne experienced in the twentieth century. The 20th-century ranch house style has its roots in Spanish colonial architecture of the 17th to 19th century. These buildings used single-story floor plans and native materials in a simple style to meet
4968-433: The time, the unique architecture was a form of architectural expressionism, as space rockets were technological novelties at the time. Cantilevered structures, acute angles, illuminated plastic paneling, freeform boomerang and artist's palette shapes and cutouts, and tailfins on buildings marked Googie architecture, which was contemptible to some architects of then-current High Art Modernism , but had defenders during
5040-469: The typical ranch-style house. Additionally, the increase in land prices has meant a corresponding increase in the number of two-story houses being built, and a shrinking of the size of the average lot; both trends inhibit the traditional ranch house style. Ranch style houses are occasionally still built today, but mainly in the Western states and, usually, as individual custom. Beginning in the late 1990s,
5112-454: Was also characterized by Space Age designs symbolic of motion, such as boomerangs , flying saucers , diagrammatic atoms and parabolas , and free-form designs such as "soft" parallelograms and an artist's palette motif. These stylistic conventions represented American society's fascination with Space Age themes and marketing emphasis on futuristic designs. As with the Art Deco style of
5184-508: Was not a style noted for its subtlety. One of the more famous Googie buildings is the Theme Building at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), designed by James Langenheim of William Pereira and Charles Luckman and built during 1961. One of the remaining Googie-styled drive-in restaurants, Harvey's Broiler (Paul Clayton, 1958), later Johnie's Broiler in Downey, California , was partially demolished in 2006. However, through
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