chronology |


1920: Paul Nelson, a Chicago-born Princeton graduate and pilot during the war, returns to Paris to take up painting and ultimately architecture at Atelier Pontremoli.

1923: Oscar Nitzchke (b.1900) leaves native Geneva for Paris.

1924: Perret's Atelier du Palais de Bois is created. Two of fifty-three students to join the atelier, Nelson and Nitzchke presumably meet.

1927: Nitzchke chosen by Perret to co-design, along with D. Honegger, Van Doesburg's l'Aubette in Strasbourg.

Nelson graduates, and asks Nitzchke to join him in a joint practice
back in Chicago.

1928: With two other students, Nitzchke commissioned to design maisons metalliques for Forges de Strasbourg.

Nitzchke meets Christian Zervos, editor of Cahier d'Art, who, having been greatly impressed with maisons metalliques, sought out the young architects for further documentation. The two become close friends.

Nelson meets Fuller in Chicago, and becomes his European pointman in the promotion of the all- steel 4-D house.

Nitzchke begins work with Perret brothers and at Rue de Sevres with Corbusier.

1929: French excess steel production reaches 40%; "Light Industrialization" emerges as viable option.

Nelson designs stage set for What a Widow! in Hollywood, a private cinema in Bronxville, NY, and the Alden Brooks residence in Paris.

1930: Nitzchke's entry places in the international Kharkov competition.

Parisian Constructivism is initiated with Circle et Carre journal,
edited by Michel Seuphor. The painter Jean Helion joins
Van Doesburg's "Concrete Art" manifesto.

1931: Nitzchke hired by Nelson as his "head designer."

1932: Prototype for a Small-Scale Hospital --theoretical project
Health City for Lille --commission
Model by metalsmith Dalbet; photography by Man Ray.

Pierre Chareau and Bernard Bijveot complete Maison de Verre.

1933: Zervos publishes special tri-lingual Cahier d'Art edition on Lille
project. Generous review of project by Corbusier.

L'Architecture d 'Aujourd'hui publishes a special edition
on "The Aesthetics of the Street."

Nelson publishes in L'Architecture d'Aujourd 'hui an article on Maison de Verre.

Breton publishes the last issue of Surrealism in the Service of the Revolution, which discusses a radical
re-alteration of Parisian monuments and street life.

Le Ricolais publishes "Vers l'age d'acier" in Cahier d'Art.

Medical Building sketch. Nelson and Nitzchke

1934: Ismailia Surgery Pavilion. Nelson and Nitzchke. (Photographs: Man Ray)

Helion's "Terms of Life, Terms of Space" published.
Ismailia reviewed in Cahier d'Art and Architectural Record.

Zervos introduces Nitzchke to Martial, an advertising executive.
The idea of a "Maison de Publicite" is put forward.

Duiker's "Cinead" project completed in Holland.

Zervos writes "Fernand Leger and La Poesie de'l Objet," holds "Jeunes Architectes"exposition
at Rue du Dragon: Ch. Perriand, Le Ricolais, "Tecton," and Beage involved.

1935: Maison Suspendu. Project done by Nelson without Nitzchke.
Roof structure developed with Vladimir Bodiansky, a talented Russian engineer coming from an aviation
background. Original model by Dalbet; additional art by Leger and Miro. Reviewed in Architectural Record
in the U.S. in 1938.

Maison de Publicite. Project done by Nitzchke without Nelson.
No model created. Photomontage by Hugo Herdeg.

1936: Christian Zervos publishes "Architecture et Publicite," review of Maison de la Publicite, in Cahier d'Art.

CBS Building. Nelson and Nitzchke.

1937: London Art School. Nitzchke.

U.S. Elevated Highway competition. Nitzchke, Bodiansky, and Andre Sive

Nelson writes "Peinture Spatiale et Architecture" for Cahier d'Art.

Exposition 1937. Nitzchke travels the exhibition with Herdeg, taking photographs for Cahier d'Art
publication.

1938: Palais de Decouverte. Nelson, Nitzchke, Jourdain
Nelson takes the commission only if Nitzchke can also be taken on.

Competition entry for WGN radio studio. Nelson with Leger.

Nitzchke leaves Paris, begins teaching at Yale and working for Wallace Harrison in N.Y.

1939: The end of Leon Blum and the Popular Front in France.
Hitler invades Poland, commencing the Second World War.
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