1. Architecture of the 1930s SECTION IV:

2. Skyscraper Architecture  Home Insurance Building, 1884, Chicago. First skyscraper. Designed by William Le Baron Jenney.  Chicago Tribune Tower, 1922-1925. Traditional skyscraper in Neo-Gothic style. Designed by Howells and Hood.  Daily News Building, 1929-1930, New York City. Modern skyscraper in Art Deco style. Designed by Raymond Hood.

3. Selected Work: Empire State Building Shreve, Lamb and Harmon  Description: 102-story skyscraper  Location: 350 5 th Avenue, New York City  Style: Art Deco  Statistics  Building ht. in feet: 1,239  Ht. of spire: 203  Construction time: 1 year, 45 days  Cost: 25 million dollars  Workers involved: 3,400  Official unveiling: May 1, 1931  Materials  steel frame construction  Indiana limestone and granite facing  aluminum and chrome-nickel steel 1931, steel frame construction, Indiana limestone, granite

4. Empire State Building  Key Features  Based on designs for the 1929 Reynolds Building in Winston- Salem, NC (top right)  Steel construction allowed for more light to penetrate the facade  Setbacks lower the building’s center of gravity, making it appear taller  Crowned by an Art Deco spire  Photographs by Lewis Hine documenting the construction were published in the book Men at Work (bottom right)  Symbolism: represented American optimism in the face of hardship

6. Public Architecture in the 1930s  Civilian Conservation Corps 1933-1942  Bridges, trails, roads, playgrounds  Tennessee Valley Authority 1933-present  Employment, energy, bridges, dams, inexpensive electricity  Works Progress Administration 1935-1943  Public buildings such as schools, hospitals, post offices

7. Selected Work: Hoover Dam Gordon Kaufmann (1888-1949), et. al.  Purpose: to share water resources among the Basin states (AZ, CA, CO, NV, NM, UT, WY)  Style: Art Deco  Materials: concrete blocks (4 mil. cubic yards), steel  Agency: Bureau of Reclamation (begun 1922)  Key Features  Arch-gravity construction (see cross- section, left)  Located on the Colorado River between AZ and NV

8. Hoover Dam 1931-36, concrete * Ansel Adams  Construction Timeline  1922- As Secretary of Commerce, Herbert Hoover began planning for the dam.  1928- President Calvin Coolidge approved the project.  1931- Six Companies, Inc. began construction.  1932- Boulder City workers’ town was finished.  1936- Dam was completed during FDR’s presidency  Politics and the Hoover Dam  First known as the Boulder Canyon Project  Then Boulder Dam  In 1930- Hoover Dam in honor of President Hoover  Under Roosevelt’s presidency, it was known as the Boulder Dam because he didn’t want to honor Hoover  1947- changed back to Hoover Dam

12. Domestic Architecture Hoovervilles  Causes of the Homeless Crisis  Rising unemployment (see chart left)  Decline in new home construction  Mortgages went unpaid  Renters were evicted  Hoovervilles  Shantytowns  Built of cardboard, wood, occasionally stone  Located in Central Park in New York, Saint Louis, Portland, Oregon (see left)  Government Response  1934- Federal Housing Administration  Federal Emergency Relief Administration oversaw the Division of Subsistence Housing  Resettlement Administration developed suburbs  1938- WPA Jane Addams Homes, first example of urban project housing

13. Frank Lloyd Wright  Education  1886- University of Wisconsin  Apprentinced with architect Louis Sullivan  Style  Prairie School  “organic” architecture;  Buildings and Projects  1908-1910: Robie House- Prairie School home in Oak Park, IL  1910-1911: Wasmuth Portfolio, a collection of drawings published in Europe  1911: Taliesin (see right)  1932: published ideas for Broadacre City, a model city with affordable housing  1934-1937: Fallingwater  Late 1930s: Usonian houses- inexpensive single-family homes for the middle class Taliesin

14. Frank Lloyd Wright  Prairie School  Informal group of architects around Chicago  Low-sweeping profiles  Open interior plans, rooms flow for one to another  Local, natural materials  Exposed wood beams preferable to hidden support Taliesin

15. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NYC

16. Selected Work: Fallingwater  Description: single-family vacation home in Bear Run, PA  Style: organic architecture  Client: Edgar Kaufmann  Key Features:  Juxtaposition of horizontal concrete cantilevers with vertical stone forms  Built right over a thirty-foot waterfall  Locally-quarried stone  Fireplace is constructed of living rock.  Glass and open terraces create a close connection with nature.  Also of Note:  Since 1963, the property has been in the trust of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) designed 1935, built 1936-39, concrete, stone

19. Selected Work: Winona Honor-Bilt Home  Description: Single-family kit home sold by mail order through the Sears catalogue  Price: $744-$1,998 in the 1930s  Contents of the Kit: lumber, nails, varnish, doorknobs, asphalt roof shingles, instruction book  Style: one-story bungalow  Low, pitched roof  Covered front porch  Built-in furnishings  Open floor plan with integrated kitchen, dining, and living areas  Honor-Bilt feature: clear (knot-free) oak and maple could be selected for the public areas of the house Sears, Roebuck and Company Available 1913-40, 1930s catalogue version  Modern construction techniques:  Balloon-framing replaced timber-framing  Standard studs and nails replaced handcrafted mortise- and-tenon joints  Pre-fab drywall replaced plaster and lathe construction