Resource Description

Resource Summary

Names/Epithets
Richard Neutra (Primary)
Richard J. Neutra (Alternative)
Richard Joseph Neutra (Alternative)
Resource Types
Architect/Designer
Important Dates
1892-04-08 (Birth Date)
1970-04-16 (Death Date)
Keywords (Subjects)
No keywords recorded

Location Information

Addresses
Location Description
No descriptions recorded

Classification

Classification
No classifications recorded

Resource Descriptions

Primary
Richard Joseph Neutra (April 8, 1892 – April 16, 1970) is considered one of modernism's most important architects. Neutra was born in Vienna on April 8, 1892. He studied under Adolf Loos at the Technical University of Vienna, was influenced by Otto Wagner, and worked for a time in Germany in the studio of Erich Mendelsohn. He moved to the United States by 1923 and became a naturalized citizen in 1929. Neutra worked briefly for Frank Lloyd Wright before accepting an invitation from his close friend and university companion Rudolf Schindler to work and live communally in Schindler's Kings Road House in California. In California, he became celebrated for rigorously geometric but airy structures that symbolized a West Coast variation on the mid-century modern residence. In the early 1930s, Neutra's Los Angeles practice trained several young architects who went on to independent success, including Gregory Ain, Harwell Hamilton Harris, and Raphael Soriano. He was famous for the attention he gave to defining the real needs of his clients, regardless of the size of the project, in contrast to other architects eager to impose their artistic vision on a client. Neutra sometimes used detailed questionnaires to discover his client's needs, much to their surprise. His domestic architecture was a blend of art, landscape and practical comfort. Neutra died in Wuppertal, Germany, on April 16, 1970. Neutra's son Dion has kept the Silver Lake offices designed and built by his father open as "Richard and Dion Neutra Architecture" in Los Angeles. The Neutra Office Building is itself listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1980, Neutra's widow donated the Van der Leeuw House (VDL Research House), then valued at $207,500, to California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona) to be used by the university's College of Environmental Design faculty and students. McCoy, Esther (1960). Five California Architects. Reinhold Publishing. Richard and Dion Neutra Papers (Collection Number 1179). Department of Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA. Hines, Thomas (1982). Richard Neutra and the Search for Modern Architecture. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195030281. Lamprecht, Barbara (2000). Richard Neutra: Complete Works. Taschen. ISBN 3822866229. Lamprecht, Barbara (2004). Richard Neutra, 1892–1970: Survival Through Design. Taschen. ISBN 3822827738.

External System References

Processing ID: ARCH-00341

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