1931 in architecture
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The year 1931 in architecture involved some significant events.
Events
- January 18 â The New York Times announces the arrival of the "photo-mural" for interior design.[1] It is also promoted for use by architectural designer Le Corbusier.[2] Already in use since at least 1927 before it reached mainstream popularity,[3] the new medium is embraced by architects in the 1930s.[2]
- December 5 â The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow (1883) is dynamited.
- The first of the Architects (Registration) Acts is passed in the United Kingdom.
- The first of the historic districts in the United States is designated in Charleston, South Carolina, by the city government.
Buildings and structures
Buildings
- January 22 â Haus des Rundfunks in Berlin, designed by Hans Poelzig, inaugurated as headquarters of German national broadcaster Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft.[4]
- January 23 â Viceroy's House, New Delhi, India, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, first occupied.
- May 1 â The Empire State Building is completed in New York City as the tallest building in the world.
- July 1 â The rebuilt Milano Centrale railway station opens in Italy.
- July 19 â Sudbury Town station on the London Underground Piccadilly line opens as rebuilt by Charles Holden, the first of his iconic modern designs for the network.[5]
- July â Royal Corinthian Yacht Club clubhouse, Burnham-on-Crouch, eastern England, designed by Joseph Emberton, is opened.[6]
- 21 West Street in New York City, designed by Starrett & van Vleck, completed.
- Villa Savoye in Paris, designed by Le Corbusier and his cousin, Pierre Jeanneret, using reinforced concrete and demonstrating Le Corbusier's Five Points of Architecture, is completed.[7][8]
- Commerce Court North is completed in Toronto, Ontario and becomes the tallest building in the British Empire (1931â1962).
- George Washington Bridge the longest suspension bridge in the world by the length of central span (1931â1937), is completed.
- St Olaf House (Hay's Wharf head offices), Tooley Street, London Borough of Southwark, designed by H. S. Goodhart-Rendel.[9]
- Raleigh Bicycle Company head offices in Nottingham, England, designed by Thomas Cecil Howitt, completed.[10]
- Aiton & Co. factory office, Derby, England, designed by Norah Aiton and Betty Scott, completed.[11]
- India Tyres offices at Inchinnan, Scotland, designed by Thomas Wallis of Wallis, Gilbert and Partners, completed and opened.
- Atlantis House and Robinson Crusoe House in BöttcherstraÃe, Bremen, designed by Bernhard Hoetger, complete the street's construction in the style of Brick Expressionism.[12]
- City Hall, Hilversum, North Holland, designed by Willem Marinus Dudok, is completed.
- India Gate in New Delhi is completed.
- Student Union at the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, designed by Sven Markelius and Uno à hrén.
- South Houses, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, designed by Gordon Kaufmann.
- Washington Singer Building on the Streatham Campus of the University of Exeter in England, designed by Vincent Harris.
- New Synagogue, Žilina, Czechoslovakia, designed by Peter Behrens, is completed.
- High and Over, Amersham, one of the first modernist houses in England, designed by Amyas Connell, is completed.
- House for two brothers in Brno, designed by Otto Eisler, is completed.[13]
- Apartment Building at 342, Muntaner Street, Barcelona, designed by Josep LluÃs Sert, is completed.
- The Home Insurance Building in Chicago, Illinois is demolished.
- Stella Maris on the island of Norderney by Dominikus Böhm is completed
Awards
- RIBA Royal Gold Medal â Edwin Cooper.
- Grand Prix de Rome, architecture: Georges Dengler.
Births
- April 23 â Roland Paoletti, British architect (died 2013)
- May 3 â Aldo Rossi, Italian architect and designer (died 1997)
- May 7 â Ricardo Legorreta, Mexican architect (died 2011)
- May 29 â Mario Maioli, Italian architect and painter[14]
- July 17 â Edward Cullinan, English architect (died 2019)
- July 23 â Arata Isozaki, Japanese architect (died 2022)
- August 16 â Alessandro Mendini, Italian architect and designer (died 2019)
- October 3 â Denise Scott Brown, Rhodesian-born American architect
- October 7 â Mark Girouard, English architectural writer and historian (died 2022)[15]
Deaths
- March 7 â Theo van Doesburg, Dutch polymath, leader of De Stijl (born 1883)
- July 17 â William Lethaby, English Arts and Crafts architect and designer (born 1857)
- September 1 â Nahum Barnet, Melbourne-based Australian architect (born 1855)
- September 20 â Max Littmann, German architect (born 1862)
- December 3 â Frederick Walters, Scottish architect of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, notable for his Roman Catholic churches (born 1849)
