Julian Harvey "Jay" Swayze (27 October 1923 – 12 June 1981) was an architect from

Plainview, Texas Plainview is a city in and the county seat of Hale County, Texas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 22,194. Geography Plainview is located at (34.191204, –101.718806) and is located on the Llano Estacado. According ...

best known for his creation of

Underground World Home Underground World Home was a home designed for the 1964 New York World's Fair by architect Jay Swayze. The home-exhibit was in Flushing Meadow Park in Queens and appeared to be a luxury bomb shelter which was marketed as secure and safe. His ...

at the

1964 New York World's Fair The 1964–1965 New York World's Fair was a world's fair that held over 140 pavilions and 110 restaurants, representing 80 nations (hosted by 37), 24 US states, and over 45 corporations with the goal and the final result of building exhibits or ...

. During his career he was a promoter of underground living and he wrote a book called: ''Underground gardens & homes: The best of two worlds, above and below''.

Early life

He was married to Ruth (née Boren) Swayze and lived in Plainview, Texas with his wife and daughters in an underground home.

Career

In his professional life he began as a luxury homebuilder. The majority of his career was spent promoting underground homes. Swayze cited solid research stating that people did not look out of their windows 80% of the time. He said when people did look out their windows, half the time what they saw was undesirable. He claimed that he could give people better views with murals. In 1962 he designed an underground home he called the

Atomitat Atomitat (1962) was an underground bunker-home in Plainview, Texas, designed by architect Jay Swayze. The name of the home came from the combination of the words "atomic" and "habitat". It was the first home in the U.S. to meet civil defense spec ...

. The home was designed during the

cold war The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

when Americans feared nuclear war. It was designed to be an "atomic habitat" which met

civil defense Civil defense ( en, region=gb, civil defence) or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state (generally non-combatants) from man-made and natural disasters. It uses the principles of emergency operations: prevention, miti ...

specifications. He compared the Atomitat to a "ship in a bottle". There was a reinforced steel and concrete shell and it was 13 feet underground. The bunker had 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms and windows throughout which were meant to mimic outdoor scenes and outdoor lighting. He billed his underground homes as Peeping Tom proof, more fun, less expensive and a way to save space above ground. He billed his homes as "safe harbor". He referred to his underground home construction design as a “ship-in-a-bottle” design. He designed a home for the 1964 New York World's Fair and it was called the Underground World Home. The cost of the exhibit and home was one million dollars. Swayze was not able to make any sales of his underground homes from the fair exhibit. The home was designed for the company "Underground World Homes" which was owned by

Avon Avon may refer to: * River Avon (disambiguation), several rivers Organisations *Avon Buses, a bus operating company in Wirral, England *Avon Coachworks, a car body builder established in 1919 at Warwick, England, relaunched in 1922, following ...

investor ( millionaire) Girard B. Henderson. Swayze built a underground home for millionaire Girard B. Henderson in Las Vegas. The home had a swimming pool, a hot tub, and a generator. In 1996 the home was put up for sale for 8 million dollars. In 1980 he wrote a book promoting the underground living called ''Underground gardens & homes: The best of two worlds, above and below''.

Death

Swayze suffered a heart attack 11 June 1981 while riding in car with one of his employees. He was transported by ambulance to High Plains Baptist Hospital in Amarillo, Texas and he arrived in critical condition. He died in the hospital the next day.

References

External links

*
Find a GraveVideo tour of Girard B. Henderson's Swayze designed underground home
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swayze, Jay 1923 births 1981 deaths Architects from Texas 20th-century American architects People from Plainview, Texas