B is for Barley Twist

As we saw under letter A, the Art Deco style of architecture is often colourful and easily identifiable, when it isn’t being what I describe as utilitarian!

One of the things that helps to make it identifiable is the use of motifs. These are usually decorative features, which are often repeated, and recur across the same building.

For letter B in the A-Z April Blogging Challenge, in which I’m featuring Art Deco, let’s have a look at some decoration that is, in the case of Loughborough’s buildings, created from the same material as the building’s cladding – barley twists! I suppose when they are vertical, these are a little bit like mini columns, and I’m thinking barley twist legs on chairs on tables, rather than barley sugar sweets!! Sometimes these decorative effects can be found in a building’s string course, so horizontal rather than vertical.

Here's an example from a building on Swan Street, Loughborough, which is currently an estate agent and jewellers downstairs, and possibly an escape room upstairs.

The building has many other Art Deco features that will likely appear in future blogposts in this series, so I won’t go into much detail, except to say that the building was originally constructed for the Echo Press, who published the local newspaper, the Loughborough Echo, and some local books. The building also housed the Press’s stationary shop. Here's an aerial view of the whole building - not too close up so we can't see too much detail - yet!

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I'm taking part in the A-Z April Blogging Challenge!! 

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

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Dyer, Lynne (2025). B is for Barley Twist. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2025/03/b-is-for-barley-twist.html [Accessed 2 April 2025]

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