.:: Art Deco Architecture ::.
Modern and cosmopolitan city, Casablanca has been a melting pot of cultures that inspired an original architectural conception in which the visitor will recognize all the styles of the first half of the 20th century.
The first "extra-wall" buildings (outside the old traditional city) appeared suddenly in the 10-20s within a climate of speculation that announced the new world. Most of them are new Moorish or new classic style, and rarely new art style.
New Moorish, new classic
The new Moorish style is recognizable through the use of Arab-Andalucian decorative items, plated on facades with local colours. Excelsior Hotel seated in United Nations place, built in 1916, is the best illustration.
We mean by new classic the elegant "pastry" used in France before 1914, particularly in Côte d'Azur. This style is characterized by a profusion of sculpted items in the facade concrete: cherubs, fruit baskets, floral showers, lion or fauna heads...
The decorative pluralism of the facades had been a constant rule in the city centre buildings. The new baroque ornamentations mix with zellige or stucco friezes and cedar wood balconies.
Art deco
By the end of the thirties, the decorative profusion makes room to sobriety. Comfort and modernity are the key words, and buildings are equipped with fittings and facilities that had been rare at that time in France: bathrooms, central heating, rubbish chutes, parking in the basement...
True works of art, the luxurious residences of the city centre took the name of their owners and gained the prestige of monuments in the "new city".
The visitor may discover them in the streets of the city centre, particularly in Mohammed V Boulevard, Rue Piétonne Prince Moulay Abdallah and the former European area of Mers Sultan. Raising your head, you will discover many refined and surprising details.
