The year 1921 in architecture involved some significant architectural events and new buildings.

Events

* March – Puhl & Wagner are contracted to decorate the interior of the

Golden Hall (Stockholm City Hall) The Golden Hall ( sv, Gyllene Salen) is a banqueting hall in Stockholm City Hall. Measuring in length, it received its name when its walls were decorated by mosaics created by the artist Einar Forseth on a proposal by the City Hall architect Rag ...

with neo-Byzantine

mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

s designed by

Einar Forseth Carl Einar Andreas Forseth (1892–1988) was a Swedish artist, remembered above all for his mosaics in the Golden Hall in Stockholm City Hall completed in 1923. Early life Born in Linköping, Forseth was the son of the Norwegian lithographer Ole ...

. *

March 21 Events Pre-1600 * 537 – Siege of Rome: King Vitiges attempts to assault the northern and eastern city walls, but is repulsed at the Praenestine Gate, known as the '' Vivarium'', by the defenders under the Byzantine generals Bessas ...

–

Teatro Yagüez The Teatro Yagüez in Puerto Rico is a historic building that today is a performing arts theater. It is located at Candelaria Street, (formerly ''Calle McKinley'') and Dr. Basora Streets, in the city of Mayagüez. It consists of the Lucy Bosca ...

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

, designed by José Sabàs Honoré, reopens. *

May 27 Events Pre-1600 *1096 – Count Emicho enters Mainz, where his followers massacre Jewish citizens. At least 600 Jews are killed. *1120 – Richard III of Capua is anointed as Prince two weeks before his untimely death. * 1153 &ndash ...

– A Buddha image is enshrined in the main hall of the Daifukuji Soto Zen Mission in Hawai'i, as part of a dedication ceremony for the building. *

September 5 Events Pre-1600 * 917 – Liu Yan declares himself emperor, establishing the Southern Han state in southern China, at his capital of Panyu. * 1367 – Swa Saw Ke becomes king of Ava *1590 – Alexander Farnese's army forces Hen ...

– The Cervantes Theatre in Buenos Aires, Argentina, opens with a production of

Lope de Vega Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio ( , ; 25 November 156227 August 1635) was a Spanish playwright, poet, and novelist. He was one of the key figures in the Spanish Golden Age of Baroque literature. His reputation in the world of Spanish literatu ...

's ''

La dama boba ''La dama boba'' (given various titles in English including ''The Lady Simpleton'', ''The Lady Boba: a Woman of Little Sense'', 'Lady Nitwit'', ''The Lady-Fool'') is a 1613 comedy by the Spanish playwright Lope de Vega. It is one of the earliest ...

''. *

Hugo Häring Hugo Häring (11 May 1882 – 17 May 1958) was a German architect and architectural writer best known for his writings on "organic architecture", and as a figure in architectural debates about functionalism in the 1920s and 1930s, though he had a ...

and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe submit a competition entry for a Friedrichstrasse office building, fully made of glass. * Construction work begins on the

Watts Towers The Watts Towers, Towers of Simon Rodia, or ''Nuestro Pueblo'' ("our town" in Spanish) are a collection of 17 interconnected sculptural towers, architectural structures, and individual sculptural features and mosaics within the site of the artis ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

, designed by

Simon Rodia The Watts Towers, Towers of Simon Rodia, or ''Nuestro Pueblo'' ("our town" in Spanish) are a collection of 17 interconnected sculptural towers, architectural structures, and individual sculptural features and mosaics within the site of the arti ...

Buildings and structures

Buildings opened

January 23 Events Pre-1600 * 393 – Roman emperor Theodosius I proclaims his eight-year-old son Honorius co-emperor. * 971 – Using crossbows, Song dynasty troops soundly defeat a war elephant corps of the Southern Han at Shao. * 1264 &n ...

–

Ohel Rachel Synagogue The Ohel Rachel Synagogue ( Hebrew for "Tent of Rachel") is a Sephardi synagogue in Shanghai, China. Built by Sir Jacob Elias Sassoon in memory of his wife Rachel, it was completed in 1920 and consecrated in 1921. Ohel Rachel is the larges ...

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

, China, designed by Robert Bradshaw Moorhead and Sidney Joseph Halse, is dedicated. *

March 3 Events Pre-1600 * 473 – Gundobad (nephew of Ricimer) nominates Glycerius as emperor of the Western Roman Empire. * 724 – Empress Genshō abdicates the throne in favor of her nephew Shōmu who becomes emperor of Japan. *1575 & ...

– New terminal at the

Central railway station, Sydney Central is a heritage-listed railway station located in the centre of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The station is the largest and busiest railway station in Australia and serves as a major transport interchange for NSW TrainLink int ...

, Australia, complete with clock tower. *

May 2 Events Pre-1600 *1194 – King Richard I of England gives Portsmouth its first Royal Charter. *1230 – William de Braose is hanged by Prince Llywelyn the Great. * 1536 – Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, is arrested and imprisone ...

–

Cunard Building (New York City) The Cunard Building, also known as the Standard & Poors Building, is a 22-story office building located at 25 Broadway, across from Bowling Green Park in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The Cunard Building was desi ...

, designed by Benjamin Wistar Morris with consultants

Carrère and Hastings Carrère and Hastings, the firm of John Merven Carrère ( ; November 9, 1858 – March 1, 1911) and Thomas Hastings (March 11, 1860 – October 22, 1929), was one of the outstanding American Beaux-Arts architecture firms. Located in New York City ...

. *

October 26 Events Pre-1600 *1185 – The Uprising of Asen and Peter begins on the feast day of St. Demetrius of Thessaloniki and ends with the creation of the Second Bulgarian Empire. *1341 – The Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347 formally begi ...

– The

Chicago Theatre The Chicago Theatre, originally known as the Balaban and Katz Chicago Theatre, is a landmark theater located on North State Street in the Loop area of Chicago, Illinois. Built in 1921, the Chicago Theatre was the flagship for the Balaba ...

movie palace in the United States. *

October 28 Events Pre-1600 * 97 – Roman emperor Nerva is forced by the Praetorian Guard to adopt general Marcus Ulpius Trajanus as his heir and successor. * 306 – Maxentius is proclaimed Roman emperor. * 312 – Constantine I defeat ...

– The Theater Pathé

Tuschinski The Koninklijk Theater Tuschinski (English: Royal Theater Tuschinski) is a Movie theaters in the Netherlands, movie theatre in Amsterdam, Netherlands, near Rembrandtplein. History The theater was founded by Abraham Icek Tuschinski, Abraham Tusc ...

movie/live theatre in Amsterdam, designed by Hijman Louis de Jong.

Buildings completed

* The

Einstein Tower The Einstein Tower (German: ''Einsteinturm'') is an astrophysical observatory in the Albert Einstein Science Park in Potsdam, Germany built by architect Erich Mendelsohn. It was built on the summit of the Potsdam '' Telegraphenberg'' to house a ...

near

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

, designed by

Erich Mendelsohn Erich Mendelsohn (21 March 1887 – 15 September 1953) was a German architect, known for his expressionist architecture in the 1920s, as well as for developing a dynamic functionalism in his projects for department stores and cinemas. Mendelso ...

. * Berliner Tageblatt, designed by

. *

Harkness Tower Harkness Tower is a masonry tower at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Part of the Collegiate Gothic Memorial Quadrangle complex completed in 1922, it is named for Charles William Harkness, brother of Yale's largest benefactor, Edward Ha ...

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

, after 4 years of construction. * The

Corn Palace The Corn Palace, commonly advertised as The World's Only Corn Palace and the Mitchell Corn Palace, is a multi-purpose arena/facility located in Mitchell, South Dakota, United States. The Moorish Revival building is decorated with crop art; the ...

Mitchell, South Dakota Mitchell is a city in and the county seat of Davison County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 15,660 at the 2020 census making it the sixth most populous city in South Dakota. Mitchell is the principal city of the Mitchell Micr ...

is completed (except for domes added in 1937). * The

Wong Tai Sin Temple (Hong Kong) Wong Tai Sin Temple is a well known shrine and tourist attraction in Hong Kong. It is dedicated to Wong Tai Sin, or the Great Immortal Wong. The Taoist temple is famed for the many prayers answered: "What you request is what you get" () via a ...

is moved to its current site and completed. * New Hindu

Durgiana Temple Shri Durgiana Mandir ( Punjabi: ਸ਼੍ਰੀ ਦੁਰਗਿਆਨਾ ਮੰਦਿਰ) (Hindi: श्री दुर्गियाना मंदिर), is a Hindu temple situated in the city of Amritsar, Punjab, India. Though a Hindu tem ...

Amritsar Amritsar (), historically also known as Rāmdāspur and colloquially as ''Ambarsar'', is the second largest city in the Indian state of Punjab, after Ludhiana. It is a major cultural, transportation and economic centre, located in the Maj ...

. *

Michel de Klerk Michel de Klerk (24 November 1884, Amsterdam – 24 November 1923, Amsterdam) was a Dutch architect. Born to a Jewish family, he was one of the founding architects of the movement Amsterdam School ( Expressionist architecture) Early in hi ...

Het Schip Het Schip (The Ship) is a building complex in the Spaarndammerbuurt neighbourhood of Amsterdam, Netherlands. The complex in the architectural style of the Amsterdam School was designed by Michel de Klerk in 1919. It originally contained 102 homes ...

housing development for Eigen Haard in Amsterdam. *

Monument to the March Dead Monument to the March Dead () is an expressionist monument in the Weimar Central Cemetery in Weimar, Germany that memorializes workers killed in the 1920 Kapp Putsch. A 1920 design produced by Walter Gropius, in collaboration with Fred Forbát, w ...

(''Denkmal der Märzgefallenen''), by

Walter Gropius Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (18 May 1883 – 5 July 1969) was a German-American architect and founder of the Bauhaus School, who, along with Alvar Aalto, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright, is widely regarded as one ...

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg an ...

, Germany. * The

Mayslake Peabody Estate The Mayslake Peabody Estate is an estate constructed as a country home for Francis Stuyvesant Peabody between 1919 and 1922. The estate is located in the western Chicago suburb of Oak Brook, Illinois, United States, and is now part of the Ma ...

Oak Brook, Illinois Oak Brook is a village mostly in DuPage County with a small portion in Cook County in Illinois. Per the 2020 census, the population was 8,163. This suburb of Chicago has the headquarters of several companies and organizations including Ace ...

, United States. * Wolseley House (showroom and offices), 160

Piccadilly Piccadilly () is a road in the City of Westminster, London, to the south of Mayfair, between Hyde Park Corner in the west and Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is part of the A4 road that connects central London to Hammersmith, Earl's Cou ...

, London, designed by

William Curtis Green William Curtis Green (16 July 1875 – 26 March 1960) was an English architect, designer and barrister"Quite ceremony in Archbishop's Palace", ''The Nottingham Evening Post'', 3 August 1935, p. 8. who was based in London for much of his career ...

Designs

Adolf Loos Adolf Franz Karl Viktor Maria Loos (; 10 December 1870 – 23 August 1933) was an Austrian and Czechoslovak architect, influential European theorist, and a polemicist of modern architecture. He was an inspiration to Modern architecture, mod ...

designs a mausoleum for Max Dvořák that is never built.

Awards

American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal Two American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medals are awarded each year by the academy for distinguished achievement. The two awards are taken in rotation from these categories: *Belles Lettres and Criticism, and Painting; *Biography and Mu ...

–

Cass Gilbert Cass Gilbert (November 24, 1859 – May 17, 1934) was an American architect. An early proponent of skyscrapers, his works include the Woolworth Building, the United States Supreme Court building, the state capitols of Minnesota, Arkansas and W ...

. *

RIBA The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...

Royal Gold Medal The Royal Gold Medal for architecture is awarded annually by the Royal Institute of British Architects on behalf of the British monarch, in recognition of an individual's or group's substantial contribution to international architecture. It is gi ...

– Edwin Lutyens.

Births

* January 15 –

Ulrich Franzen Ulrich Joseph Franzen (January 15, 1921 – October 6, 2012) was a German-born American architect known for his "fortresslike" buildings and Brutalist style.Vitello, Paul (14 October 2012)Ulrich Franzen, Designer of Brutalist Buildings, Dies at 91 ...

, German-born American "Brutalist" architect, in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in ...

(died

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

) *

February 26 Events Pre-1600 * 747 BC – According to Ptolemy, the epoch (origin) of the Nabonassar Era began at noon on this date. Historians use this to establish the modern BC chronology for dating historic events. * 364 – Valentinian I is ...

–

Angelo Mangiarotti Angelo Mangiarotti (26 February 1921 – 2 July 2012) was an Italian architect and industrial designer. His designs were mostly for industrial buildings and railway stations. In 1994 he received the Compasso d'Oro award of the Associazione ...

, Italian architect and industrial designer, in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard language, Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the List of cities in Italy, second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 ...

(died

) *

March 14 Events Pre-1600 * 1074 – Battle of Mogyoród: Dukes Géza and Ladislaus defeat their cousin Solomon, King of Hungary, forcing him to flee to Hungary's western borderland. *1590 – Battle of Ivry: Henry of Navarre and the Huguen ...

–

Ada Louise Huxtable Ada Louise Huxtable (née Landman; March 14, 1921 – January 7, 2013) was an architecture critic and writer on architecture. Huxtable established architecture and urban design journalism in North America and raised the public's awareness of th ...

, New York architecture critic and writer (died

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment ...

) *

July 22 Events Pre-1600 * 838 – Battle of Anzen: The Byzantine emperor Theophilos suffers a heavy defeat by the Abbasids. *1099 – First Crusade: Godfrey of Bouillon is elected the first Defender of the Holy Sepulchre of The Kingdom of J ...

–

Colin Madigan Colin Frederick Madigan Officer of the Order of Australia, AO (22 July 192117 September 2011) was an Australian architect. He is best known for designing the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra. Biography Born in Glen Innes, New South Wal ...

, Australian architect (died 2011) *

September 6 Events Pre-1600 * 394 – Battle of the Frigidus: Roman emperor Theodosius I defeats and kills Eugenius the usurper. His Frankish ''magister militum'' Arbogast escapes but commits suicide two days later. *1492 – Christopher Colu ...

– Lyubow Demeetriyevna Oosava, Russian-born Belarusian architect (died

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

)

Deaths

–

Pierre Cuypers Petrus Josephus Hubertus "Pierre" Cuypers (16 May 1827 – 3 March 1921) was a Dutch architect. His name is most frequently associated with the Amsterdam Central Station (1881–1889) and the Rijksmuseum (1876–1885), both in Amsterdam. ...

, Dutch church and museum architect (born

1827 Events January–March * January 5 – The first regatta in Australia is held, taking place on Tasmania (called at the time '' Van Diemen's Land''), on the River Derwent at Hobart. * January 15 – Furman University, founded in 1826 ...

) *

May 18 Events Pre-1600 * 332 – Emperor Constantine the Great announces free distributions of food to the citizens in Constantinople. * 872 – Louis II of Italy is crowned for the second time as Holy Roman Emperor at Rome, at the age of 4 ...

–

Martin Nyrop Martin Nyrop (11 November 1849 18 May 1921) was a Danish architect. Early life and education Nyrop was born on 11 November 1849 at Holmsland, Ringkøbing, the son of parish priest Christopher Nyrop (1805–1879) and Helene Ahlmann (1807–1874) ...

, Danish architect of Copenhagen City Hall (born

1849 Events January–March * January 1 – France begins issue of the Ceres series, the nation's first postage stamps. * January 5 – Hungarian Revolution of 1848: The Austrian army, led by Alfred I, Prince of Windisch-Grätz, enters in th ...

)Funder, Lise (1979). ''Arkitekten Martin Nyrop''. København: Foreningen til gamle Bygningers Bevaring. *

June 1 Events Pre-1600 *1215 – Zhongdu (now Beijing), then under the control of the Jurchen ruler Emperor Xuanzong of Jin, is captured by the Mongols under Genghis Khan, ending the Battle of Zhongdu. *1252 – Alfonso X is proclaimed king o ...

– Sir

Robert Rowand Anderson Sir Robert Rowand Anderson, (5 April 1834 – 1 June 1921) was a Scottish Victorian architect. Anderson trained in the office of George Gilbert Scott in London before setting up his own practice in Edinburgh in 1860. During the 1860s his m ...

, Scottish Victorian architect (born

1834 Events January–March * January – The Wilmington and Raleigh Railroad is chartered in Wilmington, North Carolina. * January 1 – Zollverein (Germany): Customs charges are abolished at borders within its member states. * January ...

) *

December 10 Events Pre-1600 *1317 – The " Nyköping Banquet": King Birger of Sweden treacherously seizes his two brothers Valdemar, Duke of Finland and Eric, Duke of Södermanland, who were subsequently starved to death in the dungeon of Nyköp ...

–

George Ashlin George Coppinger Ashlin (28 May 1837 – 10 December 1921) was an Irish architect, particularly noted for his work on churches and cathedrals, and who became President of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland. Biography Ashlin was ...

, Irish ecclesiastical architect (born

1837 Events January–March * January 1 – The destructive Galilee earthquake causes 6,000–7,000 casualties in Ottoman Syria. * January 26 – Michigan becomes the 26th state admitted to the United States. * February – Charles Dickens ...

)

References

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