December 18, 1925

Today, a pair of newspaper front pages from Friday, December 18, 1925, the day that Tudor City was announced to the world. Coincidentally, they both ran the story on page one, above the fold.

 

The first newspaper was the very reputable New York Times. In a case like this one, the reporter reported the fact sheet. The cost of the land, $7.5 million (to date). Cost of the project,$25 million. The number of apartment houses, 20. Other perks included a heating plant with a fifteen-story garage built above it, solely for inhabitants. This would be the future home of 10,000 people.

The article was well-intentioned, but in the end, ill-informed. In reality, the French Company hadn't signed off on anything yet. While the cost of the project is anyone's guess, the number of apartment houses finally erected was 12 (not 20), and the garage and heating plant were never built. It is currently home to 5,000 people.

The Gazette from Montreal ‒ oddly enough ‒ also put the story on page one, but they made the fatal error of leading with the news it will house 800,000 people. It was only downhill from there on. But there was some beauty in their description of the enterprise:

The general layout of the  development, which when completed will be the largest apartment house operation of its kind in the world, will be that with a compact residential community, complete with market place, gymnasium, gardens, swimming pool and other centers of communal life.

The connected structure, developed along Tudor lines, with gables, old English gates, hanging lanterns and other architectural features will be topped by a 30-story central tower hotel. The development will graduate down from the central tower to one-story residences.

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That about sums it up. The preliminary drawing, below, was the first study of the community, discussed in an earlier post.