Arthur Levitt

Arthur Levitt Jr. (1931-) chairman of the SEC 1993-2001.

Arthur Levitt pioneered in the construction of prefabricated homes by applying techniques he had used in providing ready-made housing for the military during the war to peacetime home construction. Beginning on Long Island in 1947, Levitt laid out a series of planned communities composed of hundreds of homes made the exact same way; the standard Levitt home was eight hundred square feet (74 m²), put down on a cement slab foundation, and arranged on land cleared of all obstructions such as trees, hills or other unique natural features.

In so doing, Levitt not only offered a program for addressing the housing shortage but also kicked off what became a uniquely American phenomenon, suburbanization.