The twenties was part of the transition period between the 19th century style of housing and current homes. New ways of building meant houses were easier to heat and cool, more hygienic, and more suited to modern living styles.

The types of houses were…

Art Deco Style is a style that combined traditional elements with symmetrical stream-lined design. The Art Deco Style evokes elegance and luxury.

Neo-Gothic, also called Gothic Revival came of the the new artists wanted to revive the medieval architecture elements from european buildings. These buildings included decorative patterns, scalloping, and moldings with heavily arched windows.

Beaux-Arts was a movement featuring Neoclassical French and Italian designs inspired from designs of The Renaissance and Baroque periods.

Prairie Style is a midwestern U.S. design style not found anywhere else at the time. It was not influenced by European architecture. The concept was to reflect the natural landscape of the Midwestern prairie and buildings reflected this method by using horizontal lines, hipped roofs and overhanging eaves.

During this period, desire to make a charming home of beauty, color, proportion and simplicit, came about. People craved comfort in both summer and winter, indoors and outside. Builders focused on convenience, ease of housekeeping and low operating expense.

Until the 19th century, buildings of over six stories were rare. It was impractical to have people walk up so many flights of stairs, and water pressure could only pump running water up to 50 feet.

Reinforced concrete techniques were used on homes, churches and commercial buildings. Reinforced concrete was also used building bridges.

The development of steel, reinforced concrete, and water pumps made it possible to create taller buildings (over 1000 feet tall) The other development essential to skyscraper development was the invention of the elevator.

The skyscraper first emerged in big cities like New York and Chicago with very little space toward the end of the 19th century. Buikders in the 1920's thought 2000 was as night as they could go.

The Empire State Building, the biggest building of this time, was started in 1930 and finished 18 months later. The Empire State Building's construction was hurried, in orders for it to be the "world's tallest building.” It remained the tallest building in the world for many years, until the construction of the World Trade Center.

The building's distinctive spire was originally designed to be a mast/ depot for zeppelins. However, after a couple of brief attempts, the idea proved to dangerous, because of updrafts caused by the side of the building.

1920's architecture was the age of new technology and is still used today.