What Is Distinctively ‘america About The Buildings Of The United States With Which You Are Familiar? Base Your Analysis On A Consideration Of Three Or Four Building/Structures
It is argued that America has no one distinct style to its architecture, but rather, several different styles and architectural movements that had been introduced or popularised in America. There were many styles utilised in city centres and some styles were modern copies of old European style architecture, it can be considered that what made these buildings distinctly ‘American’ was the materials used and the adaptation of an old, classic style of architecture.
One style of architecture popularised by America was the skyscraper. The skyscraper was developed from the art deco style that was being used in France and Germany in the early 1900s. The Americans began developing these skyscrapers in the 1920s. The purpose of these skyscrapers was in the early stages of their construction primarily commercial but there were various apartment skyscrapers were constructed. The one skyscraper that can be seen as being distinctly American is the Chrysler Building in New York. This was constructed between 1928 and 1930. What makes this building distinctly American is that it was one of the first skyscrapers to be developed during this period that still remains one of the tallest buildings in New York to this day. The Empire State Building is of course another one of the buildings in New York constructed that remains one of the tallest building in the city and is seen by many as distinctly American as it is a national landmark and is easily recognisable thanks to American cinemas depiction of New York in various films such as King Kong which as Rosemarie Haag Bletter states “helped crystallize our image of Gotham, the city of skyscrapers and urban chic” . Despite the fact that the Empire State Building is known by some many around the world thanks to its design, stature and iconography with America, commercialism and New York, the Chrysler Building can be seen as distinctly more American thanks to its design. While possibly not as iconic as the...
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