Style suggestion
...for a modern American storefront. Excerpt from the book 'Shop America. Midcentury Storefront Design 1938 – 1950'. By Steven Heller.
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Retail portals defined the style of the age
The barrier between the sidewalk and the store practically disappeared - the only thing between the shopper and the product was glass. Advanced nonreflective glass gave the illusion of transparency, and with this came the myth of freedom, which underscored the democratic right of all average Americans to freely consume. In this way Modernism became a tool of capitalism, and even avantgarde architects like Richard Neutra - who designed the Coco Tree Café at Hollywood and Vine in 1930 with an entire plate-glass front for Carl Laemmle of Universal Studios - and Rudolf Schindler - whose glass houses inspired the storefront “movement” - as well as Victor Gruen; Morris Lapidus; Skidmore, Owings and Merrill; and Raphael Soriano introduced consumer modernism to mainstream retail culture. Perhaps it is not surprising that many of the retail-modern designers were from Germany, Austria, or Eastern Europe where Modernism took root prior to the closing of the Bauhaus in 1933. In addition to Neutra, Schindler, and Lapidus (who also designed the Eden Roc in Miami), Paul László, Victor Gruen, and Frank Gruys contributed to the decidedly American aesthetic.
Despite the relentless push for uniqueness, however, storefront manufacturers actually preferred to build from kits or standard models that diverged only slightly from the master plan.While individual architects created their own iterations of the dominant style, which included store names made of large Gothic letters, glass-block surfaces, and cantilevered marquees, various American glass manufacturers and construction companies serving retail entrepreneurs offered subtle alterations on a typical layout. The leading promoters - Pittsburgh Plate Glass, the Kawneer Company, and Libbey-Owens-Ford Glass Company (which owned the brand called "Visual Fronts") - published lush catalogs, each featuring dozens of colorful architectural renderings from which to choose the perfect storefront. These futuristic treatments were reminiscent of 1920s Constructivist or de Stijl structures. Based firmly on rectangularity, many of the renderings could easily have been designed at the Bauhaus too. When the post-World War II building boom began, the need for more stylish stores increased, and these contemporary retail portals came to define standardized marketing aesthetics. As stated in Libbey's 1945 catalog, "A Visual Front on a retail store is just what the name implies - a front which one can see through because large areas of clear glass put the entire store on display. There is no vision barrier between the merchandise inside and potential customers outside. A Visual Front contains no 'gingerbread' to distract the attention of a passerby away from the goods for sale." Modern storefronts were dedicated to certain principles of visibility. One typical catalog’s sales pitch noted, “Vision begins at the bulkhead and continues up to the ceiling,” to give the customer a sense of monumentality even in a store that has “narrow frontage or a middle-of-the-block location.”
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Retail portals defined the style of the age
The barrier between the sidewalk and the store practically disappeared - the only thing between the shopper and the product was glass. Advanced nonreflective glass gave the illusion of transparency, and with this came the myth of freedom, which underscored the democratic right of all average Americans to freely consume. In this way Modernism became a tool of capitalism, and even avantgarde architects like Richard Neutra - who designed the Coco Tree Café at Hollywood and Vine in 1930 with an entire plate-glass front for Carl Laemmle of Universal Studios - and Rudolf Schindler - whose glass houses inspired the storefront “movement” - as well as Victor Gruen; Morris Lapidus; Skidmore, Owings and Merrill; and Raphael Soriano introduced consumer modernism to mainstream retail culture. Perhaps it is not surprising that many of the retail-modern designers were from Germany, Austria, or Eastern Europe where Modernism took root prior to the closing of the Bauhaus in 1933. In addition to Neutra, Schindler, and Lapidus (who also designed the Eden Roc in Miami), Paul László, Victor Gruen, and Frank Gruys contributed to the decidedly American aesthetic.
Despite the relentless push for uniqueness, however, storefront manufacturers actually preferred to build from kits or standard models that diverged only slightly from the master plan.While individual architects created their own iterations of the dominant style, which included store names made of large Gothic letters, glass-block surfaces, and cantilevered marquees, various American glass manufacturers and construction companies serving retail entrepreneurs offered subtle alterations on a typical layout. The leading promoters - Pittsburgh Plate Glass, the Kawneer Company, and Libbey-Owens-Ford Glass Company (which owned the brand called "Visual Fronts") - published lush catalogs, each featuring dozens of colorful architectural renderings from which to choose the perfect storefront. These futuristic treatments were reminiscent of 1920s Constructivist or de Stijl structures. Based firmly on rectangularity, many of the renderings could easily have been designed at the Bauhaus too. When the post-World War II building boom began, the need for more stylish stores increased, and these contemporary retail portals came to define standardized marketing aesthetics. As stated in Libbey's 1945 catalog, "A Visual Front on a retail store is just what the name implies - a front which one can see through because large areas of clear glass put the entire store on display. There is no vision barrier between the merchandise inside and potential customers outside. A Visual Front contains no 'gingerbread' to distract the attention of a passerby away from the goods for sale." Modern storefronts were dedicated to certain principles of visibility. One typical catalog’s sales pitch noted, “Vision begins at the bulkhead and continues up to the ceiling,” to give the customer a sense of monumentality even in a store that has “narrow frontage or a middle-of-the-block location.”
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Shop America. Midcentury Storefront Design 1938-1950
Hardcover 10.4 x 13.4 in., 246 pages
$ 59.99
$ 59.99
Window shopping
Concept design, furrier shop, 1939