Despite recessions, depressions and the start of the Second World War, the 1930s somehow produced some of the most stylish home trends in history. From glamorous Art Deco design and minimalist Modernism to innovative appliances and ground-breaking artists, these rarely-seen vintage images explore this exciting era's timeless appeal.

Click or scroll on to discover some of the chicest home and interior trends from an extraordinary decade...

This stunning 1930s stucco beach house in Margate City, New Jersey, embodies the sleek elegance of the era. The sweeping curves and decorative iron railings reflect key Art Deco motifs, while a convertible parked in the driveway completes the glamour of the scene. 

This 1930 photo shows American inventor and architect Buckminster 'Bucky' Fuller sitting next to a model of his Dymaxion House. Despite being expelled twice from Harvard University, Fuller is celebrated as one of the greatest minds of his time and is the inventor of the geodesic dome.

Designed to address a shortage of affordable homes, this early style of prefab housing cost the same as a Cadillac car and could be shipped just about anywhere inside a metal tube. The concept proved so futuristic, it took 15 years before it was built in 1945. It is on show today at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, USA.

In 1934, American architect Frank Lloyd Wright was commissioned to design a home in rural Pennsylvania, USA for philanthropist and retailer Edgar J. Kaufmann. Known as Fallingwater, it's probably Wright's most famous build, largely due to the impressive way in which it ties the modern structure to its natural surroundings – as we can see from this 1937 photo.

Wright also began building small, affordable family homes known as Usonian houses in the 1930s. These simple yet distinctive structures were built from wood, stone and brick and often included glass curtain walls that blended the home into its surroundings. 

The 1934 Chicago World's Fair explored visions of the future – as this Crystal House demonstrates. Designed by George Fred Keck, it was heavily influenced by Germany's Bauhaus design movement which began as a school under Walter Gropius in 1911. 

The movement's utilitarian, Modernist style embraced clean lines, geometric abstract motifs and the use of glass and steel, which can clearly be seen in the house's geometric frame. According to the Illinois Insitute of Technology, the Crystal House was one of several laboratory houses designed "to seriously determine whether better ideas and designs for living could be found."

A stylish 1930s home wasn't complete without a showstopping entrance hall. This one at 29 Beekman Place in New York City was built for TV exec William S. Paley in 1934 and it incorporates many of the era's hallmark trends, including exotic zebra print, floor-to-ceiling mirrors and a series of tall, elegant archways.

According to the New York Times, the house was bought in 1975 by Princess Ashraf Pahlavi, twin sister of the last Shah of Iran. It last sold in 2023 for $27.5 million (£22m).

Cedric Gibbons, the supervising art director for the Hollywood film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), and his actress wife Dolores del Rio, epitomised old-school glamour in their sleek 1931 Modernist Malibu beach home.

Designed by Gibbons himself, the residence showcased Art Deco elegance, a style he helped popularise in cinema. This striking image, captured by Clarence Sinclair Bull for MGM's publicity department, highlights the couple’s influence on design and film in the 1930s.

The 1930s was a decade of extraordinary change, including economic depressions and a World War. Artists and political activists used public mural painting as a way to engage with the masses but they also became popular inside the home and were a hallmark of the Art Deco style.

These murals were photographed in 1933 and depict scenes of classical cityscapes. The murals on the left show the ancient Roman port city of Ostia and were painted by English surrealist artist John Armstrong, while the mural on the right was designed by the painter Nicolas de Molas.

South African actress Dorice Fordred is seen here at home in her modern apartment in Chelsea, London in March 1935. She was a noted theatre actress of the period and was appearing in the play Summer's Lease at the time.

Dorice's chic breakfast nook typifies 1930s style, with built-in seating, a modern pedestal table and a curved wall of frosted glass. We wish we looked half as sophisticated as we sipped our morning coffee! 

This might just be the pinnacle of 1930s kitchen design. The chrome trim on these cabinets tapped into the Modernist look – as do the matching kitchen table and the tubular chrome chair. Recessed shelving displays coloured glassware, which was all the rage, while the simple arch perfectly frames the window. 

Created by American artist and industrial designer George Sakier in 1939, it includes almost every fashionable feature imaginable. There was a boom in built-in cabinets, moving on from previous decades when freestanding units such as tables, cupboards and sideboards were the norm.

During the 1930s, electric appliances became commonplace in homes throughout Europe and North America. Refrigerators had evolved from simple ice boxes or 'cold closets' into devices that could keep food fresh for much longer. They were also a status symbol that families would proudly show off to friends.

Electric ovens with integrated ovens and cooktops – like this one on the right – heated up quickly, helping the busy cook or housewife save time and serve up speedy meals.

Invented by the Victorians, Linoleum has been around a lot longer than you might think. Hardwearing and easy to keep clean, lino was found in almost every room of the home but it was particularly useful in kitchens and bathrooms. 

Abstract Art Deco patterns and marble-effect designs were popular during this decade, as we can see from these 1930s magazine adverts for Congoleum Rugs. Congoleum was felt-based, so it wasn't as tough as Linoleum – which was made from canvas coated in linseed oil, gums and resins – but it was about three times cheaper.

This fashionable French dining room was featured in a 1938 issue of Plaisir de France, a magazine celebrating the arts. The designer has blended multiple interior trends while retaining a stylish, paired-back feel. 

The round glass and chrome table, the matching curved shelves and chrome-legged chairs were the height of chic. Green was one of the major colours of the decade and here it ties the dining room to the garden beyond via a large sliding glass door.

French furniture designer Roger Bal sketched this Art Deco dining room in 1933. The intricately carved dark wood furniture is set off perfectly by the pastel peach and blue colour scheme, while the wall paintings and the geometric patterns on the high ceiling create a sense of grandeur. 

Today, Bal's furniture is still highly prized and pieces sell online for thousands.

This distinctive dining set was created by Finnish architect and furniture designer Alvar Aalto in 1938. He embraced Modernist style in the 1930s and – somewhat unusually for the time – turned his back on chrome, preferring to craft his furniture from wood and plywood.

This set was made from cellulose birch, with the table legs and the frame of the tea trolley made from single bent pieces. You can still see his influence in IKEA's bent wood furniture.

German actress Marlene Dietrich is seen here striking a pose in the living room of her Beverly Hills, Los Angeles home in around 1935. 

The bold geometric pattern on the floor is a striking Art Deco motif, its effect softened by the leather chairs, shaggy rug and curved end table. However, all eyes are drawn straight to the large mural of a black panther fighting a zebra among giant agave plants – it must have proved quite the talking point! 

This glamorous trio were photographed playing a board game at home in 1938. The room was crafted by Paul MacAlister, an American designer and architect who received Yale's first-ever Interior Design and Architecture degree. 

Note how the streamlined wood on the curved walls, the single recessed bookshelf and the rounded table legs combine to create a harmonious effect. The window above the fireplace reflects the curved window panels typical of the period.

The era's distinctive clean-lined aesthetics dominated interior design there was also a taste for global patterns. Golden Age actress Lupe Valez was born in San Luis Potosí, Mexico and she celebrated her heritage through the décor of her Beverly Hills home.

This photo taken in 1937 shows Lupe sitting in her den, which she called her 'Mexican room', surrounded by pottery, dolls and rugs. The geometric patterns on the rugs are evocative of Art Deco motifs popular at the time which used tribal art and African influences in fabrics and furnishings.

In 1935, the Tasmanian film star Errol Flynn was snapped leaning nonchalantly against the mantelpiece of his study. A model ship stands on the shelf beside him – perhaps a reference to his swashbuckling role in the film Captain Blood, which was released that year. Meanwhile, a zebra rug – a popular print in the 1930s – lies on the floor.

The unpainted knotted pine, low coffered ceiling and brick fireplace are nods to the American Craftsman style, which became popular in the US from the 1920s onwards. Other popular architectural styles of the 30s included mock-Tudor and neo-Georgian, which held a nostalgic charm.

Radio took off in 1927 and enjoyed its Golden Age during the 1930s and 1940s. During that period, most homes had a radio and families would regularly gather around large Bakelite or wooden sets like this one to catch their favourite programmes. 

This enormous but elegant radio set was photographed in about 1935 and features an elongated arch, long parallel grooves and other decorative motifs redolent of Art Deco design.

This stylish 1938 study belonged to Lord Louis Mountbatten, the great-grandson of Queen Victoria. It was one of the last major commissions taken on by the London-based design duo Betty and David Joel. 

We love the brightly-coloured built-in sofas, minimalist chrome fireplace and rounded furniture. The unusual relief map of the world on the wall may nod to Mountbatten's role as a naval commander. His penthouse was in Brook House on London's exclusive Park Lane. The building had been rebuilt in 1935, indicated by the Art Deco-style railing glimpsed through the window.

Naturally, the interior design styles of the decade also found their way into luxury transport in the form of trains, planes and ocean liners of the super-rich upper classes.

This sitting room, dining room and bedroom belonged to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, also known as the Queen Mother of Elizabeth II. They were part of a sumptuous suite on the Royal Train that took them across Canada from Quebec to Vancouver on the Canadian National Railways in 1939.  

Statement staircases like these were a must in any chic home. The beautiful rubber-clad example on the left was built in 1935 at Land's End House in Berkshire, UK. It was designed by architect Guy Morgan for the aircraft manufacturer Frederick George Miles.

The striking staircase on the right is made from shiny monel metal – a nickel and copper alloy – and was photographed in a New York home in 1933.

This glitzy bedroom was dreamt up by French interior designer André Groult. Swathed in pink drapes – mostly likely made from luxurious silk or satin – it would be the perfect Art Deco bedroom for a glamorous Golden Age movie star. 

Ornate pelmets, a bed platform, a grooved recess and fanned-shaped wall sconces all create an air of opulence.

Stage and screen actress Kay Johnson showed off her Art Deco-style headboard and lamps when she was photographed relaxing on her bed at home in 1935. Note the geometric patterns of light cast onto the wall by her wall lamp – a great way to add some glam to a roughly plastered wall.

Fun fact: Kay is the mother of actor James Cromwell, who is probably best known as Farmer Hoggett in the Babe movies.

This bright and breezy bedroom was designed in 1939 and brings to mind an oceanfront apartment in Miami Beach, Florida. While the curtains and accents are floral and feminine, the furniture is a forerunner of mid-century modern designs that were all the rage in the 50s and 60s.

These pieces were crafted by French furniture designer Suzanne Guiguichon and featured in Decorative Art 1939 - The Studio Year Book. Her work still fetches high prices – a 1940s sideboard by Guiguichon went on sale in 2024 for £40,180 ($50k).

Fashion and beauty in the 1930s was all about glamour, so getting ready was a serious business. As such the dressing rooms and vanity units from the time were designed to be sophisticated, feminine and sumptuous. From fringing to feathers, upholstery used luxury fabrics and a large mirror with good lighting was just as important then as it is today.

Here we see actress Arline Judge (left) in 1930 preparing for a swim in her dressing room that adjoined her pool. On the right one of the ultimate Golden Age icons Jean Harlow is pictured in 1933.

While this 1930 nursery is certainly modern, we doubt a baby would get the best night's sleep surrounded by those busy patterns – nor how safe a cradle with a lid would be!

However, the boundary-pushing look hits many of the 1930s top trends, including a folding screen, tubular chrome furniture and a geometric tea set. The high-backed chair at the far right of the photo was clearly inspired by Ancient Egyptian art, which heavily influenced Art Deco motifs.

Whether rich maroon, pastel pink, baby blue or avocado green, colourful sanitary ware was all the rage in the 1930s. This vibrant bathroom was displayed at a showroom on London's Bond Street in 1936 and was designed by Oliver Hill, a British architect who went on to design key Modernist structures, including the British Pavillion at the 1937 Paris Exposition.

This luxurious ensuite is typical of high-end bathrooms of the 1930s. Possibly influenced by Golden Age film sets, the use of light was carefully considered as a feature of 1920s and 1930s design. Here, multiple mirrors bounce light around the room, highlighting the various types of marble on the walls, bath and vanity unit.

Built-in glass shelves to display beautiful perfume bottles were also a popular design feature of the time, as were the heated towel rail and stylish silver fittings.

This 1938 sunroom blends two of the era's most popular colours, soft green and baby pink, to create an extraordinary space. 

Not quite a conservatory, a sunroom is usually built on the side or rear of a home from the same materials as the rest of the house. Multiple large windows flood the room with light – perfect for growing house plants and there's usually direct access to the garden. 

This home was exhibited in a modern house display at Marshall Field & Company in Chicago, Illinois in 1937. Its neat lawns, simple yet elegant furniture, glass block walls and patio for entertaining were all popular in gardens of the time. 

Potted plants became available in 1926 in America, so gardeners didn't have to grow all their plants from seed anymore. Ready-potted plants require less time and skill to nurture, making gardening more accessible and increasing the variety of plants seen in gardens. Flowers we consider classics today – like carnations, roses, hollyhocks, foxgloves and delphiniums – were in high demand in the 1930s and even influenced wallpaper and soft furnishing.

Designed by Frank Scarlett of Scarlett and Ashworth, this 1930s home is a classic example of International Modern architecture in England showcasing the era’s clean lines and functional design.

It features rendered brick, a flat roof and a striking metal balcony overlooking a dramatically stepped garden – as yet unplanted – leading down to a sharply geometric hexagonal pond.

As we've seen, despite being a decade of extreme global challenges, the 1930s proved irrepressibly inventive and stylish – even the motorhomes looked chic.

These women were photographed in 1937 standing in the doorway of a Covered Wagon Company '37 Deluxe trailer attached to the rear bumper of a parked car. Its clean lines and utilitarian design are softened by the plaid curtains glimpsed at each window. 

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