1938 in architecture

The year 1938 in architecture involved some significant events.

Events

• First woman elected to Royal Institute of British Architects, Josephine Miller.

Buildings and structures

Buildings opened

• July – Saltdean Lido and Ocean Hotel, Saltdean, East Sussex, England, both designed by R.W.H. Jones.
• October 22 – Oxford Playhouse, Oxford, England, designed by Edward Maufe.
• October 29 – City Hall, Norwich, England, designed by C. H. James and S. R. Pierce.
• November 14 – Lions Gate Bridge in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Buildings completed

• The Reich Chancellery in Berlin, designed by Albert Speer (rebuilt).
• Great Mosque of Asmara in Italian Eritrea, designed by Guido Ferrazza.
• Church of the Epiphany, Gipton, Leeds, England, designed by Nugent Cachemaille-Day.
• Metro Theatre (Toronto), designed by Kaplan and Sprachman.
• Finsbury Health Centre, London, designed by Berthold Lubetkin and the Tecton Group.
• Metropolitan Water Board Laboratories, London, designed by Howard Robertson.
• Palace of Fine and Decorative Arts, Treasure Island, San Francisco Bay, California, USA, designed by George W. Kelham and William Peyton Day.
• Palace of Justice, Lima, Peru.
• , Mar del Plata, Argentina, designed by Alejandro Bustillo.
• Manchester Town Hall Extension, England, designed by Vincent Harris in 1927.
• São Bento Palace, Lisbon, Portugal.
• Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Netherlands, designed by Henry van de Velde.
• Helsinki Olympic Stadium, Finland, designed by Yrjö Lindegren and Toivo Jäntti.
• Brackenfell (house), Brampton, Carlisle, England, designed by Leslie Martin and Sadie Speight.
• The Homewood (house) near Esher, Surrey, England, designed by Patrick Gwynne (for his parents).
• Charters House, Berkshire, England, designed by Adie, Button and Partners.
• Hamstone House, St George's Hill, Weybridge, Surrey, designed by Ian Forbes.
• Middleton Park, Oxfordshire, England, the last great country house designed by Edwin Lutyens (with his son Robert).
• Houses in Hampshire, Sussex and at Eton, Berkshire in England by Marcel Breuer and F. R. S. Yorke.
• Gropius House, Lincoln, Massachusetts, designed by Walter Gropius with Marcel Breuer.
• Belvedere Court (apartments) in East Finchley, London, designed by Ernst L. Freud.
• Josephine M. Hagerty House, Cohasset, Massachusetts, designed by Walter Gropius with Marcel Breuer.
• Luma Tower, built as British Luma Co-Operative Electric Lamp factory, Glasgow, designed by Cornelius Armour.
• Fiat Tagliero Building, Asmara, Italian Eritrea, designed by Giuseppe Pettazzi.

Other

• Construction work begins on
• Mark Keppel High School in Alhambra, California, designed by Marston & Maybury.
• Council House, Bristol, England, designed by Vincent Harris.

Publications

• Lewis Mumford – The Culture of Cities

Awards

• AIA Gold Medal – Paul Philippe Cret
• RIBA Royal Gold Medal – Ivar Tengbom
• Grand Prix de Rome, architecture: Henry Bernard

Births

• February 23 – Liu Thai Ker, Singaporean architect and urban planner (died 2026)
• April 16 – Wolf Hilbertz, German-born futurist architect, inventor and marine scientist (died 2007)
• May 12 – Terry Farrell, English architect, designer of the KK100 and SIS Building (died 2025)
• July 10 – Paul Andreu, French airport architect (died 2018)
• July 14 – Moshe Safdie, Israeli/Canadian architect, urban designer, educator, theorist and author
• September 3 – Richard MacCormac, British architect (died 2014)
• November 30 – Andrea Branzi, Italian architect and designer (died 2023)
• December 30 – Susan Maxman, née Abel, American architect

Deaths

• February 25 – W. D. Caröe, English-born ecclesiastical architect (born 1857)
• July 2 – John James Burnet, Scottish architect (born 1857)
• October 30 – Charles Klauder, American architect (born 1872)
• December 24 – Bruno Taut, German-born architect and urban planner (born 1880)
• December 25 – Theodor Fischer, German architect (born 1862)

References