It stands out as a design movement due to its brazen modern simplicity and selective splashes of grandeur. Something is enticing about the agility of Art Deco; how it embraces what beauty can be found in symbols of human invention. Art Deco's visual gusto can be found in train stations, movie theatres, skyscrapers, furniture, and even coffee cups. Elements we can identify include geometric shapes, shiny chrome, brass, and wood details.
Art Deco, having existed for a relatively short period of time, certainly isn't the most common design or architectural style found in Estonia. More prevalent styles include baroque (for example, Kadriorg Palace), neoclassical (such as the University of Tartu's main building), or Art Nouveau (like the Estonia Theatre in Tallinn).
However, one building that does embrace the clarified, sleek Art Deco architectural style is the Grand Hotel Viljandi. Since the building was completed in 1938, it has contained a hotel, a bank, a restaurant, a clothing store, and a pharmacy; all at once at one point.
The building, designed by architect Eugen Sacharias, is dominated by two rectangular wings that jut out from a rounded entrance. Wide windows abound across the sides of the building. In between the windows are columns that extend from the second floor up to the roof. Over the entrance, tall windows with square panes of glass elongate the building upward towards a belvedere, from which one can look out below.
Christine Myrvang of the Norwegian Business School defines the end result of Art Deco as being “…in the direction of elitism. This was mainly aimed at the middle class with spending power, who embraced the effortless urban life in the cities.” Hotels fit into this lifestyle of leisure, travel, wealth, and comfort.
All around the hotel are railings that resemble those of a cruise liner. The walls are painted a spotless white. The patio area below is illuminated by simple spherical lamps resting on tall posts. The building suits the seaside location well.
Thus, another excellent example of Art Deco is the Rannahotell in Pärnu, located within a short walk of the beach and Pärnu Bay.In the 30s, Olev Siinmaa and Anton Lembit Soans designed the hotel to meet the city's need for a place for tourists to stay when they visited the waterfront. The hotel was opened in the summer of 1937. In its lifetime, it has also housed German and Soviet soldiers and was a sanatorium for almost 50 years, before becoming a hotel again in 1994.
Rannahotell has an elongated profile, with a row of balconies extending outward, looking out across the grass and to the water. Positioned every few metres along this profile are round porthole windows. All around the hotel are railings that resemble those of a cruise liner. The walls are painted a spotless white. The patio area below is illuminated by simple spherical lamps resting on tall posts. The building suits the seaside location well.
In the lobby, the hotel has a checkerboard pattern tiled floor, arched doorways, and an accent of carved details, sculpted by Paul Horma, next to the front desk. The style of the Rannahotell is what Olev Siinmaa called “Pärnu Resort Functionalism.” This is hand-in-hand with Art Deco, in that both approaches strived for modernism.
Estonian Art Deco endures in the plywood furniture of Luterma (the A. M. Luther Mechanical Woodworking Factory). Luterma was also known for making suitcases, addressing the new travel possibilities of the time. But of what remains today, you'll more often see sets of chairs that they manufactured. They used plywood because they wanted to make something light, strong, and reliable.
Luterma was founded in 1883 and was operational until 1940. Though they did have moments of more decorative designs, as the years went by, their work veered more and more towards functionalism and modernism. This was in response to the construction of more apartments and smaller dwellings for working families in Estonia's bigger towns. These homes needed simpler, standardized furniture that could be shifted around to address different needs in a space.
They're built in an uncomplicated way, except for a geometric detail in the bottom of the backrest: three wooden squares of decreasing width, which looks like a chandelier.
One example of Luterma's designs are the bistro chairs they made in 1930. The top of each chair's backrest is rounded and follows a comfortable shape around one's back. They're built in an uncomplicated way, except for a geometric detail in the bottom of the backrest: three wooden squares of decreasing width, which looks like a chandelier.
What was Art Deco design and architecture trying to achieve with their combination of simplicity and occasional decoration?
In “Art Deco: A Mode of Mobility” Dr. Michael Windover of Carleton University writes that Art Deco's central theme was mobility in “migration, transportation, commodity exchange, capital, and communication.” The examples of Art Deco we do have from Estonia tell us about how eager some of the country's designers and architects were to move out of the shell of the past.
