LOCALIZATION OF ART DECO AND ART NOUVEAU: TRANSLATING MODERNITY IN ARCHITECTURAL HYBRIDITY

Abstract

Maulana Zafar Ali Chowk located in the historic neighborhood of Gowalmandi Lahore, is characterized by a dense cluster of early twentieth-century residential buildings. Their façades document a distinctive synthesis of architectural style. This paper examines how international Art Deco and Art Nouveau vocabularies were adopted, transformed, and adapted in this compact urban area through local craftsmanship, locally available materials, and traditional practices. Based on qualitative methodology, the study combines field-based and material surveys, ICOMOS aligned condition assessment, archival investigation. Based on this approach, 15 to 20 selected residences were analyzed located within the square. Findings identify three overlapping forms of architectural hybridity. Geometric Art Deco abstraction, visible in sun burst panels, motifs, terrazzo at the entrance, stepped parapets. While Art Nouveau inspired ornament through plaster lotus, peacock motifs, flowing ironwork. Alongside persistent vernacular traditions such as jharokhas, jalis patterns, and lime plaster prepared with organic additives including mash dal and chana dal. Rather than being mere replicas, these architectural features signify intentional adaptations through which the mercantile middle class responded to the circumstances of colonial modernity. The paper maintains that acknowledging these hybrid mid-scale buildings as heritage requires conservation frameworks that exceed narrow stylistic classification. Without timely intervention and increasing commercial pressures with informal regulatory practices may leads to the loss of an important archive of South Asian urban modernity.