1. Rosario Candela was an Italian American architect who achieved renown through his apartment building designs in New York City, primarily during the boom years of the 1920s.
12 Facts About Rosario Candela
1. 2.
Rosario Candela is credited with defining the city's characteristic terraced setbacks and signature penthouses.
3.
Nowadays, to own a 10- to 20-room apartment in a Rosario Candela-designed building is to accede to architectural as well as social cynosure.
4.
Rosario Candela returned to Italy after his arrival to study there and returned to the US in 1909.
5.
Rosario Candela's father was Michele Candela, a plasterer, and his mother was Josephine Pizzurro.
6.
Rosario Candela gained admission to the Columbia University School of Architecture and graduated in 1915.
7.
In 1927 and 1928, Rosario Candela designed 19 apartment buildings, including 960 Fifth Avenue and 720 Park Avenue.
8.
Rosario Candela had more commissions in 1929, but the housing boom had begun to slow prior to the stock market crash in October.
9.
Rosario Candela continued his practice up until his death in 1953.
10.
Rosario Candela began studying cryptography in 1930 after learning about the accomplishments of the Army Signal Corps in WWI.
11.
Rosario Candela decrypted messages originally coded in 1898 by Commandant Etienne Bazeries of the French Army.
12.
Rosario Candela wrote a book, The Military Cipher of Commandant Bazeries, in 1938 detailing how he broke Bazeries' code.