The ethereal US Embassy at Shantipath, Delhil; Source: Public Domain

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Edward Durell Stone, born on the 9th of March, 1902, would be heavily inspired as a youngster, an American on a tour of Europe, visiting the 1920s era European buildings - which were in what was to be known as the International Style.

Europe had been progressively moving towards more subdued art styles for a while now - from the rich 19th century historicism and romantic-era art, to the Art Nouveau of the 1880s, with great curved lines and decorative effect, then onto the Art Deco - which was decorative but imposing, using new materials of the time. The International style of art was even more subdued than all these - it combined new materials, mass produced, lightweight, with no ornament or color on them, repetitive modular forms, and flat surfaces.

It did not sound appealing on paper at all, but that was precisely the job of the architect - how to make imposing glass and steel blocks look beautiful, and they. One of them, our topic of discussion today, was also of importance to India, as any budding emigrant or foreign ministry worker would tell you, for his designed building in New Delhi, was the US Embassy at Shantipath.

1954 - and while International Style was giving way to the much similar Modernist styles, he would still be keen to develop the style one more time - and it reflected clearly - steel beams and simple rectangular shapes for the main compound, and barely decorated outwards till its renovations much later in time, the Embassy still retains its basic design to date.

> The US Chief Justice, laying the foundation stone in 1956, claimed it to be a ‘Temple of Peace’ and incorporated some local cultural decorations. Nehru praised it, and the New York Times reflected on it too, calling it the “Most Elegant Embassy in the World”.

ED Stone, the architect of the US Embassy in New Delhi, was born today in 1902. His design of the embassy in 1954 was praised by both US and Indian leaders and media