RC:
Isn't this a typical design from the Miami area? I think from sometimes in the 1930s but I don't remember how it is called. There is a pretty famous first house in this design in Miami. No, not art-deco. Or maybe?
The famous Miami district is indeed Art deco and features a lot of vivid colors, rounded edges and ornamental details. The above building would fall under the category of Modern Architecture which had its origins in Western Europe in the 1920ies. Strongest contribution must´ve come from the Bauhaus in Weimar and Dessau. It features a very clear geometrical pattern and even a vertical symmetry which even traces down to the details such as lamps and trees. As one can see, not a single circular element appears on the entire building.
Contemporary architecture, as Fritz mentions it, refers to contemporary creations (which this building might fall under due to its date of construction) which have gone in a slightly different direction in those recent decades.
Regarding the attractiveness of the CLS, Mercedes has in recent years clearly followed seasonal trends in car design. The first CLS features a very organic appearance which can be seen both in the surface treatment as well as graphical details. The GLK or current E-class for example feature very geometrical elements which will look equally outdated in a few years. The interesting thing though is that this strategy has been replaced on the new A-class or current CLS by a very organic and graphical language which in itself can become visually tiring in the medium term. So it is just an intended course of time that these cars will look outdated to the viewer sooner or later. Fortunately, after some time has passed by, these epoch-specific references are seen in a very different (objective) perspective.
On top of that, the first CLS was a breakthrough for Mercedes as it was the departure from the previous elderly and representative design language towards a far more emotional and athletic theme. It featured a design that could have perfectly suited a Jaguar sports limousine.