1951 in architecture explained

The year 1951 in architecture involved some significant events.

Buildings and structures

Buildings

• January 2 – Federal Reserve Bank Building (Seattle), designed by William J. Bain of NBBJ, opened.
• February 19 – Mount Sinai Hospital (Minneapolis), designed by Liebenberg and Kaplan, opens.
• February 28 – Bronx River Houses completed in the Soundview section of The Bronx in New York City.
• May 3 – Festival of Britain opened in London:
  • Royal Festival Hall, designed by Leslie Martin, Peter Moro and Robert Matthew.
  • Dome of Discovery, designed by Ralph Tubbs.
  • Skylon, designed by Philip Powell, Hidalgo Moya and Felix Samuely.
  • Telecinema, designed by Wells Coates.
  • Riverside Restaurant, New Schools building and Waterloo entrance tower, designed by Jane Drew with Maxwell Fry.^[1]
  • The Land of Britain and The People of Britain pavilions, the Turntable Café and the "Concourse" promenade, designed by H. T. Cadbury-Brown.
  • Fountain by Eduardo Paolozzi.
  • '51 Bar by Leonard Manasseh and Ian Baker.
  • The bombed St John's Church, Waterloo, remodelled by Thomas Ford, is rededicated as the Festival church.
  • The Lansbury Estate in Poplar is begun as a housing showcase.
• May 23 – Terrace Theatre (Minnesota), designed by Liebenberg and Kaplan, opens.
• 860-880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments are completed in Chicago, by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.
• Healy Guest House, Siesta Key, Florida, designed by Paul Rudolph and Ralph Twitchell is completed.
• The JK Building completed in Belo Horizonte, Brazil as designed by Oscar Niemeyer.
• Farnsworth House (Plano, Illinois) is completed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

Events

• The antenna of the Empire State Building in New York City is added to the building.
• Nikolaus Pevsner publishes the first in his Buildings of England series for Penguin Books, the volume on Nottinghamshire.
• Norman Jewson publishes his autobiographical By Chance I did Rove.

Awards

• AIA Gold Medal – Bernard Ralph Maybeck.
• RIBA Royal Gold Medal – Vincent Harris.
• Grand Prix de Rome, architecture – Louis de Hoÿm de Marien.

Births

• July 28 – Santiago Calatrava, Spanish architect and structural engineer
• Yvonne Farrell, Irish architect

Deaths

• February 6 – William Alexander Harvey, English architect working in Birmingham (born 1874)
• July 22 – Arthur Joseph Davis, English architect (born 1878)
• Herbert Tudor Buckland, British architect working in Birmingham (born 1869)

Notes and References

1. Book: Drew, Jane. Banham, Mary. Hillier, Bevis. A Tonic to the Nation: The Festival of Britain 1951. London. Thames & Hudson. 1976. 103. The Riverside Restaurant.