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Mapping the Very Best Art Deco Sprinkled Around D.C.

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Mid-century modern gets a lot of love in the capital, but its older cousin Art Deco headlines on swaths of real estate too. Think of the style, which reigned from the 1920s through the early 1940s, as a mash-up of futuristic, Machine Age deets (lots of chrome, ziggurats) and Arts and Crafts (curvy shapes, warm marble accents). Find this Gatsby-esque glam on buildings both expected (movie palaces!) and quirky (an ex bus station). The map's after the jump, and do let us know in the comments if we missed some Prohibition-era pretty. - Jenn Barger


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The Uptown Theater

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No trace of this 1936 movie palace’s original interior remains, but the impressive, temple-like façade designed by John J. Zink still bears neo-Navajo inlays and an old chrome-framed marquee. Photo by Flickr user Rudi Riet.

The Kennedy-Warren

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Built in the grandiose Aztec Deco style in the late 1930s, this towering Cleveland Park apartment complex has served as home base for big names like Wallis Simpson and Hillary Clinton. Highlights include a curved, chrome-trimmed front overhang, cast cement elephant ornaments on the façade and dramatic metal elevator doors that seem ripped from a chieftain’s tomb. Photo by Flickr user Keith Ivey.

Greyhound Terminal

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If you were catching a bus in or out of D.C. during WWII, chances are your ride took off from this curvy-licious 1940 Greyhound depot. Glass bricks, an exterior clock and aluminum trim give the place a diner-ish appeal, even if the spot now houses a very un-snazzy CORT furniture rental center. Photo by Flickr user Adam Gerard.

AFI Silver

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No shock that the film-preservation gurus decided to screen flicks in this restored 1938 bijoux. Designer John Eberson concocted it to look like a ship, and while the interior’s been rehabbed, it still feels very silver screen Hollywood. Photo by Flickr user Elvert Barnes.

Man Controlling Trade statues

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Two 17-foot-tall sculptures of beefy men wrangling beefier horses flank the eastern entrance of FTC headquarters. Installed in 1942, they’re the handiwork of Michael Lantz and meant to represent humans attempting to harness the free market, we presume. Photo by Flickr user M.V. Jantzen.

Folger Shakespeare Library

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The interiors of Paul Philippe Cret’s circa-1932 library/theater devoted to the Bard hark back to Ye Olde England (wood beamed ceilings, stained glass windows). But the stone and cement exterior is a pure Art Deco party with its streamlined, boxy shape and reliefs of scenes from Shakespeare plays like “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Photo by Flickr user Kevin Harber.

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The Uptown Theater

No trace of this 1936 movie palace’s original interior remains, but the impressive, temple-like façade designed by John J. Zink still bears neo-Navajo inlays and an old chrome-framed marquee. Photo by Flickr user Rudi Riet.

The Kennedy-Warren

Built in the grandiose Aztec Deco style in the late 1930s, this towering Cleveland Park apartment complex has served as home base for big names like Wallis Simpson and Hillary Clinton. Highlights include a curved, chrome-trimmed front overhang, cast cement elephant ornaments on the façade and dramatic metal elevator doors that seem ripped from a chieftain’s tomb. Photo by Flickr user Keith Ivey.

Greyhound Terminal

If you were catching a bus in or out of D.C. during WWII, chances are your ride took off from this curvy-licious 1940 Greyhound depot. Glass bricks, an exterior clock and aluminum trim give the place a diner-ish appeal, even if the spot now houses a very un-snazzy CORT furniture rental center. Photo by Flickr user Adam Gerard.

AFI Silver

No shock that the film-preservation gurus decided to screen flicks in this restored 1938 bijoux. Designer John Eberson concocted it to look like a ship, and while the interior’s been rehabbed, it still feels very silver screen Hollywood. Photo by Flickr user Elvert Barnes.

Man Controlling Trade statues

Two 17-foot-tall sculptures of beefy men wrangling beefier horses flank the eastern entrance of FTC headquarters. Installed in 1942, they’re the handiwork of Michael Lantz and meant to represent humans attempting to harness the free market, we presume. Photo by Flickr user M.V. Jantzen.

Folger Shakespeare Library

The interiors of Paul Philippe Cret’s circa-1932 library/theater devoted to the Bard hark back to Ye Olde England (wood beamed ceilings, stained glass windows). But the stone and cement exterior is a pure Art Deco party with its streamlined, boxy shape and reliefs of scenes from Shakespeare plays like “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Photo by Flickr user Kevin Harber.