The International Style was the dominant architectural force of the 20th century, remaining in vogue from roughly the 1920s until the 1970s. The term was coined and the style’s elements codified in an essay issued in 1932 by architects Henry-Russell Hitchock and Philip Johnson called The International Style: Architecture Since 1922.
The International Style manifested itself earliest in skyscraper construction. From the appearance of the first high-rises in the 1890s architects designed towers to resemble tripartite classical columns. At ground level the first two or three stories received the most attention (the base); the facade of the intermediate stories was left plain (the shaft); and an ornate roofline and top story capped the composition (the capital). Architects became increasingly disgruntled with the fussiness of these eclectic buildings that had little or nothing to do with their ultimate purpose.
As mass-produced building materials like steel girders and reinforced concrete and plate glass became available architects like Walter Gropius and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe began championing skyscrapers with glass curtain walls. These office buildings could be raised quickly and economically and fit with a society that was shifting from farm work to desk work. Almost overnight the age of the classically-designed skyscraper came to an end.
The glass curtain wall became ubiquitous in city streetscapes. The clean lines and efficient function of the International Style were easily adapted to smaller projects like civic buildings and academic halls. Some architects segued into residential design with houses dominated by flat roofs and masses of windows.
Eventually, it all got to be too much. There is, after all, only so much creativity you can apply to steel and glass and square corners before it all looks a bit the same. “Corporate architecture” served its purpose to keep up with the unprecedented growth of world cities in the 20th century. But the glass boxes didn’t age well with those looking on from the outside. By the 1970s the critical backlash was in full throat and after that any buildings tapping the International Style felt like the architect wasn’t really trying hard enough.