Quote Originally Posted by DetroiterOnTheWestCoast View Post
Isn't a lot of the 1920's architecture that everyone waxes poetic about also simply an earlier and well done "faux historicist" design?
Some, but not all. The art deco skyscrapers - like the Penobscot, Guardian and Stott buildings - were built in a new style that tried to be appropriate for the new scale of a skyscraper. Trying to graft older styles on that big a building made it look a little silly, like the Book Tower.

Not that we aren't fond of the Book Tower, but it's kind of like your great aunt who insisted on dressing like a teenager from 1960, even though she's 250 pounds - good style for its time, but not size appropriate.