1911 in architecture explained

The year 1911 in architecture involved some significant architectural events and new buildings.

Events

• March 25 – The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire shows up the need for improved safety standards in New York City buildings.
• April 4 – Foundation stone of Castle Drogo, a country house in Devon, England designed by Edwin Lutyens, laid; it will not be completed until 1930.
• May 23 – The competition to design Canberra, Australia's new capital, is won by American architect Walter Burley Griffin. In the same year, Griffin marries fellow architect Marion Lucy Mahony.

Buildings and structures

Buildings opened

• May 23 – New York Public Library Main Branch, designed by Carrère and Hastings.
• September 12 – Theatro Municipal (São Paulo), designed by Ramos de Azevedo.
• c. September – Altare della Patria (Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II) in Rome, designed by Giuseppe Sacconi (died 1905) in 1884 inaugurated; it will not be completed until 1925.

Buildings completed

• Brasserie Excelsior and Angleterre Hotel in Nancy, France, designed by Lucien Weissenburger and Alexander Mienville, with ironwork and interiors by Louis Majorelle and stained glass by Jacques Grüber.
• Fagus Factory at Alfeld, an der Leine, designed by Walter Gropius and Adolf Meyer.
• American Bank Note Company Printing Plant in New York City, designed by Kirby, Petit & Green.
• Frank Lloyd Wright builds his Taliesin house and studio in Spring Green, Wisconsin.
• Horwood House in Buckinghamshire, England, designed by Detmar Blow, is completed.
• King Edward Building for the General Post Office in the City of London, designed by Henry Tanner, an early use of Hennebique reinforced concrete.^[1]
• Royal Liver Building, Liverpool, England, designed by Walter Aubrey Thomas.
• Eagle Insurance Building, Manchester, England, designed by Charles Heathcote.
• New City Hall (Prague), designed by Osvald Polívka.
• Church of St Cuthbert Mayne, Launceston, Cornwall, designed by Arthur Langdon.
• Berlin-Pankow station, designed by Karl Cornelius and Ernst Schwartz.
• Monroe Street Bridge in Spokane, Washington.

Awards

• AIA Gold Medal – George Browne Post.
• RIBA Royal Gold Medal – Wilhelm Dorpfeld.
• Grand Prix de Rome, architecture: René Mirland.

Births

• March 24 – Jane Drew, English modernist architect and town planner (died 1996)^[2]
• July 16 – John Lautner, American architect (died 1994)
• December – Tom Ellis, English architect (died 1988)
• David Roberts, British architect (died 1982)

Deaths

• November 15 – Philip Gengembre Hubert, French-born New York architect (born 1830)
• Adolf Eichler, German architect working in Baku (suicide; born 1869)

Notes and References

1. Book: Osley, Julian. Built for Service: Post Office Architecture. London. British Postal Museum & Archive. 2010. 978-0-9553569-3-3. 22–23.
2. Book: Flower, Sile. Macfarlane, Jean . Plant, Ruth. Jane B. Drew, architect: A tribute from her colleagues and friends for her 75th birthday 24 March 1986. Bristol Centre for the Advancement of Architecture. 1986. 0-9510759-0-X.