In the 1920s the S&W Cafeteria was a newly emerging restaurant type, which originated on the West Coast. It was designed for speed, convenience and comfort. Architect Douglas Ellington designed the building and gave it a modern Art Deco look. The S&W Cafeteria is probably the finest example of an Art Deco style building in Asheville.

Inspired by the Renaissance architecture of the famous cathedral and dome of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, Italy, Douglas Ellington completed the First Baptist Church in 1927. It was his first commission. Although following Beaux Arts planning concepts of formality and symmetry, some decorative elements like his stylized feather motif or palm leaf seem to give some hints to his later art deco styled designs.

The art deco styled Asheville City Hall is considered one of Douglas Ellington’s best designs. According to John Nolen’s master plan for Asheville, the City Hall was supposed to be paired with the Buncombe County Courthouse. An intense battle between the county commissioners, who preferred a neo-classical design, and the city officials, who favored Ellington’s art deco style, led to a deep rift between these two commissions and finally to two differently designed buildings.

In 1921, after fire had broken out twice in the Clarence Barker Memorial Hospital in Biltmore Village, Edith Vanderbilt gave 15 acres to build a new Biltmore Hospital using fireproof materials. Between 1923 and 1928, many fundraisers were held to help with the financing of the new hospital, which Douglas Ellington was commissioned to architect in 1929.