Throughout the centuries, architecture and interior design have changed drastically. Design centers, such as Paris, London, and Italy, have all had their share of input, and each has its own unique styles which have been preserved over time. America is one of the few countries in the world where design has come together from all of these centers to create a 'melting pot' of designs. Indeed, America has no one style that she can claim as her own. After World War I, Americans experienced a surge of industrialization, which was reflected in new designs of furniture and architecture. Throughout Babbitt, Sinclair Lewis describes the average home in America during the early part of the 1900's as being simple, modern, and identical.
             Modern art and design were just entering the American scene when Babbitt was written. Streamline Moderne was both a reaction to Art Deco (born in Paris, France) and a reflection of austere economic times. Gone was unnecessary ornament or, in many cases, any ornament. Sharp angles were replaced with simple curves, and exotic woods and stone were often replaced with ordinary cement and glass. Products of modern design included both individually crafted luxury items and mass-produced wares, or, as described in Babbitt, 'mass-produced neighborhoods'. Dazzling primary colors such as emerald, ruby, and azure replaced antiqued auburn and olive. It was not uncommon to find the grim, gray walls in a local bank decked with rectangular paintings of shapes and lines in brilliant shades of red and green, the room completed with simple, chrome or steel chairs, with curves as smooth as glass. Lewis describes the Athletic Club where Babbitt often socializes: "The Athletic Club building is nine stories high, yellow brick with glassy roof-garden above and portico of huge limestone columns below. The lobby, with its thick pillars of Caen stone, its pointed vaulting, and a brown glazed-...