Levitt, William Jaird

▪ 1995

      U.S. builder and developer (b. Feb. 11, 1907, New York, N.Y.—d. Jan. 28, 1994, Manhasset, N.Y.), as the pioneering president of Levitt & Sons, Inc., dramatically altered the U.S. residential suburban landscape with single-family, mass-produced, 74-sq m (800-sq ft) homes. His dwellings both provided an affordable source of housing for returning World War II servicemen and served as the cookie-cutter prototype for Levittown, a model village on Long Island, New York, that Levitt built on the site of a potato farm. While his brother, Alfred, designed the houses and his father, Abraham, focused on landscaping, William Levitt concentrated on organizing, financing, advertising, and sales. After the booming success of the first Levittown (1947-51), which included more than 17,000 homes, Levitt constructed (1951-56) a second Levittown in Bucks county, Pa. He was credited with innovating efficient and cost-effective construction techniques and with uniquely patterning the suburbs with his massive tracts of uniform houses. Levitt was at the same time criticized for the mass-produced appearance of his units, for refusing to sell to blacks, and for not supporting housing for the poor. Levitt erected the New Jersey Levittown in 1958 and went on to build various other projects before selling his concern in 1968 to International Telephone and Telegraph for $92 million. In a number of business reverses in the 1970s and '80s, Levitt lost much of his wealth.

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