1932 in architecture

The year 1932 in architecture involved some significant events.

Events

• International Style by Philip Johnson and Henry-Russell Hitchcock is published.
• The International Exhibition of Modern Architecture at the Museum of Modern Art in New York spreads the International Style.
• John Wiley & Sons publishes Architectural Graphic Standards by Charles George Ramsey (1884–1963) and Harold Reeve Sleeper, the first book to present the accepted architectural practices of the time in a clear and accessible graphic form.

Buildings and structures

Buildings opened

• March 19 – Sydney Harbour Bridge, designed by John Bradfield (engineer), is opened in Sydney, Australia.
• April 23 – New Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon, designed by Elisabeth Scott, is opened, becoming the first important work erected in the United Kingdom by a woman architect.
• July 19 – Lambeth Bridge, London, designed by engineer Sir George Humphreys and architects Sir Reginald Blomfield and G. Topham Forrest.
• August 1 – Thiepval Memorial, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, is inaugurated in the Somme (France).
• August 7 – Douaumont ossuary, designed by Léon Azéma to house the bones of at least 130,000 unidentified soldiers of both sides who died in the Battle of Verdun.
• September 19 – Arnos Grove tube station, London, designed by Charles Holden.
• September 22 – Sheffield City Hall, Yorkshire, England, designed by Vincent Harris in 1920.
• November 16 – Parliament Buildings (Northern Ireland), Belfast, designed by Sir Arnold Thornely.
• November 25 – Saint Sophia Cathedral in Harbin, China.
• November 27 – Bixby Creek Bridge at Big Sur, California, designed by C. H. Purcell and F. W. Panhorst.

Other new buildings

• PSFS Building in Center City, Philadelphia, designed by George Howe and William Lescaze, first International Style skyscraper in the United States.
• Leopoldine-Glöckel-yard (residence), Vienna, Austria, designed by Josef Frank.
• High Cross House, Dartington Hall, Devon, England, designed by William Lescaze.
• Deneke Building at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, England, designed by Giles Gilbert Scott.
• Alameda Theatre (Alameda, California), United States, designed by Timothy L. Pflueger.
• Church of the Most Sacred Heart of Our Lord in Prague, designed by Jože Plečnik.
• Catholic Church of St Engelbert, Cologne, Germany, designed by Dominikus Böhm.
• The Daily Express Building, London, designed by Sir Owen Williams.
• The Hoover Building on the Western Avenue in Perivale, West London, designed by Wallis, Gilbert and Partners in Art Deco style.
• Maison de Verre, Paris, France, by Pierre Chareau, Bernard Bijvoet and Louis Dalbet.
• Paimio Sanatorium in Finland, designed by Alvar Aalto.
• Unilever House in the City of London, designed by James Lomax-Simpson of Unilever with Sir John Burnet and Thomas S. Tait of Sir John Burnet and Partners.
• Immeuble Clarté apartment building in Geneva, designed by Le Corbusier and his cousin, Pierre Jeanneret.
• Narkomfin building (collective apartments) in Moscow, designed by Moisei Ginzburg with Ignaty Milinis in 1928.
• Harnischmacher House in Wiesbaden, Germany, designed by Marcel Breuer.
• Wohnbedarf furniture stores in Switzerland, designed by Marcel Breuer.
• Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex, Shaft 12, Schacht Albert Vögler, Germany, designed by Fritz Schupp and Martin Kremmer.
• Sol Wurtzel House, Bel Air, Los Angeles, designed by Wallace Neff.

Awards

• Olympic gold medal – Gustave Saacké, Pierre Bailey and Pierre Montenot for Arena for bulls, Paris.
• Olympic silver medal – John Russell Pope of the United States for Design for Payne Whitney Gymnasium.
• Olympic bronze medal – Richard Konwiartz of Germany for Design for Schlesierkampfbahn, Breslau.
• RIBA Royal Gold Medal – Hendrik Petrus Berlage.
• Grand Prix de Rome, architecture – Camille Montagné.

Births

• June 22 – Anthony Hunt, English structural engineer (died 2022)
• July 6 – Herman Hertzberger, Dutch architect and academic
• July 19 – William S. W. Lim, Singaporean architect (died 2023)
• August 11 – Peter Eisenman, American architect
• September 9 – Carm Lino Spiteri, Maltese architect and politician (died 2008)

Deaths

• April 17 – Sir Patrick Geddes, Scottish urban theorist (born 1854)
• August 19 – E. S. Prior, English Arts and crafts movement architect and theorist (born 1852)
• November – Abraham E. Lefcourt, American real estate developer (born 1876)
• December 8 – Gertrude Jekyll, English garden designer (born 1843)
• December 28 – Léon Jaussely, French architect and urban planner (born 1857)