1958 - Architecture, Real Estate

Architecture, Real Estate

The 20-story Havana Hilton opens March 27. Designed by Wallace Beckett Associates with help from the local firm Arroyo y Menendez, the $21 million hotel has 320 rooms, competes with Miami mobster Meyer Lansky's Havana Riviera and mobster Santos Traficante's Capri; it will be the Havana Libre beginning next year.

Brasília's Presidential Palace is completed to designs by Brazilian architect Oskar Niemeyer, 51, on a site laid out by architect-urban planner Lucio Costa, 66, on an arid savanna that has been set aside for the nation's new capital, a futuristic city with apartments and private houses placed in green areas largely free of vehicular traffic (see 1960).

Milan's Pirelli building is completed to designs by Italian architects Pier Luigi Nervi, 67, and G. Ponti.

Rome's Palazzetto dello Sport is completed to designs by Pier Luigi Nervi.

Oklahoma City's Gold Dome Bank building is completed on Route 66 to designs by Buckminster Fuller.

Iraq's new Qasim government gains popularity among the country's urban poor by imposing rent controls and increasing expenditures on housing.