1933 in architecture

The year 1933 in architecture involved some significant architectural events and new buildings.

Events

• The Bauhaus school in Berlin is permanently closed by the Nazi government.
• Modern Architectural Research Group (MARS Group) established as a think tank by younger architects and critics involved in the modernist movement in Great Britain.
• Completion of restoration of Herstmonceux Castle in England by Walter Godfrey.

Buildings and structures

Buildings opened

• July – New Midland Hotel, Morecambe, Lancashire, England, designed by Oliver Hill.^[1]
• August 23 – Leeds Civic Hall, Yorkshire, England, designed by Vincent Harris in 1926.
• November 29 – Schwandbach Bridge, Switzerland, designed by Robert Maillart.
• Royal Masonic Hospital (later Ravenscourt Park Hospital) at Ravenscourt Park in London, designed by Thomas S. Tait of Sir John Burnet, Tait and Lorne.^[2][3]
• Labworth Café on Canvey Island, England, designed by engineer Ove Arup.

Buildings completed

Battersea Power Station, first stage

• St Gabriel's Anglican Church in Blackburn, England, designed by F. X. Velarde.
• Városmajori Roman Catholic church in Budapest, completed by Bertalan Árkay following the death in 1932 of his father Aladár Árkay.
• Myer Emporium renovation, Bourke Street, Melbourne, Australia.
• The Round House, designed by Berthold Lubetkin's Tecton Architectural Group to house gorillas at London Zoo, one of the first modernist buildings in Britain.^[4]
• Battersea Power Station, London, with Giles Gilbert Scott as consultant architect,^[5] begins operation.
• College Hall, Royal Air Force College Cranwell, England, designed by James Grey West.
• Mardon Hall, first of the University of Exeter Halls of Residence in England, designed by Vincent Harris.
• Darbishire Quad at Somerville College, Oxford, England, designed by Morley Horder.
• Mercado de Abastos de Algeciras (market hall), Spain, designed by Eduardo Torroja.
• Villa Markelius in Stockholm, designed by Sven Markelius for himself.
• Schminke house in Löbau, Germany, designed by Hans Scharoun.
• Engel House, White City (Tel Aviv), Mandatory Palestine, designed by Zeev Rechter.
• Töss Footbridge, Winterthur, Switzerland, designed by Robert Maillart.^[6]

Awards

• AIA Gold Medal – Ragnar Östberg.
• RIBA Royal Gold Medal – Charles Reed Peers.
• Grand Prix de Rome, architecture – Alexandre Courtois.

Publications

• John Betjeman – Ghastly Good Taste, or the depressing story of the rise and fall of British architecture.
• The Information Book of Sir John Burnet, Tait & Lorne.

Births

• February 2 – Rodney Gordon, British architect (died 2008)
• June 25 – Álvaro Siza Vieira, Portuguese architect and architectural educator
• July 23
  • Raimund Abraham, Austrian architect (died 2010)^[7]
  • Richard Rogers, Italian-born British modernist and functionalist architect
• October 29 – John Andrews, Australian architect
• November 4 – Terje Moe, Norwegian architect (died 2009)^[8]

Deaths

Luca Beltrami

• January – Edward Lippincott Tilton, American architect based in New York (born 1861)
• March 10 – Émile André, French architect, artist and furniture designer (born 1871)
• April 16 – Harold Peto, English architect and garden designer (born 1854)
• August 8
  • Luca Beltrami, Italian architect and architectural historian (born 1854)
  • Adolf Loos, Austrian/Czechoslovak architect and writer (born 1870)
• December 4 – W. G. R. Sprague, British theatre architect (born 1863)
• December 24 – Sir Frank Baines, English architect (born 1877)

References