1926 | Architecture, Real Estate
Architecture, Real Estate
The U.S. Supreme Court upholds municipal zoning ordinances authorized by state governments. Justice Sutherland delivers the majority opinion November 22 , saying that "states are the legal repository of police power" (Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Company; see 1916). Justices Butler, McReynolds, and Van Devanter dissent, but the Department of Commerce publishes a "Standard State Zoning Enabling Act" to serve as a model for state legislatures (see 1961).
A Limited Dividend Housing Companies Law passed by the New York State legislature permits condemnation of land for housing sites, abatement of local taxes, and other measures to encourage housing construction. Limits on rents and profits are required, and income limitations are set for tenants.
Otis Elevator faces a challenge from the Westinghouse Co., which acquires the patents and engineering skills of several sizeable companies that include Otis's chief competitors. Westinghouse elevators will vie with those of Otis in America's proliferating skyscrapers.
A Paris house for Dada writer Tristan Tzara is completed to designs by Adolf Loos, who has lived in France since 1922.
A Barcelona trolley-bus strikes Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí while he is en route to church and he dies of his injuries June 10 at age 77, leaving his magnificent (Expiatory Temple of the Holy Family (Templo de la Expiatorio de la Sagrada Familia) cathedral incomplete. Others will execute his plans for the main façade, the crossing, and a chapel of the Assumption.
Florida's Boca Raton Club has its beginnings in the Ritz-Carlton Cloister opened February 6 on a 16,000-acre reserve acquired by architect Addison Mizner with backing from investors who include T. Coleman du Pont, Harold S. Vanderbilt, and songwriter Irving Berlin (see 1925). Located 26 miles south of Palm Beach, the community heretofore has been no more than a settlement of subsistence farmers living in wooden shacks, but Mizner has created a lavish 100-room resort hotel, built at a cost of $1.25 million, with a golf course, an artificial lake, islands, and electric-powered gondolas. The hurricane that strikes September 19 nearly destroys it along with many other Florida resort developments (see 1927).
The Paris hotel Lancaster opens at 7, rue de Beri off the Champs d'Elysées. Formerly a private residence (hôtel particulier) and then an exclusive apartment house, the building was acquired last year by Emile Wolf of Montreux, who rebuilt it, adding floors and a rear wing, filling the rooms with good French antiques, paintings, and lamps. The Lancaster and its elegant dining room will soon attract a clientele that includes royalty, aristocrats, and the Hollywood film crowd.