Loos, Adolf |
| ARCHITECT, DESIGNER (AUSTRIA) |
|
BORN 10 Dec 1870, Brno - DIED 23 Aug 1933, Wien: Sanatorium Dr. Schwarzmann, Kalksburg BIRTH NAME Loos, Adolf Franz Karl Viktor Maria GRAVE LOCATION Wien: Zentralfriedhof, Simmeringer Hauptstraße 234, Simmering (Gruppe 0, Reihe 01, Nummer 105 (Historisches Grab)) |
|
In his time Adolf Loos was the leading European architect and theorist of modern architecture. He was born in Brünn (now Brno) as the son of a stonemason. He was educated in Brünn. He also studied at the University of Technology in Dresden but left after a year. In 1893 he travelled to the USA where he stated for three years and lived with relatives near Philadelphia. After his return to Europe he settled in Vienna, where he befriended Ludwig Wittgenstein, Arnold Schönberg, Peter Altenberg and Karl Kraus. He started working as an architect, designing interiors for shops and cafés. He published "Spoken into the Void" in 1900 in which he opposed the popular Vienna Secession. In his essay "Ornament and Crime" he stated that ornaments were a waste of time and that that buildings with ornaments would be obsolete sooner. In 1902 he married the art student Lina Obertimpfler but they divorced in 1905. From 1910 to 1912 the so called Loos House was built right across the Hofburg at what is now Michaelerplatz 3. Emperor Francis Joseph hated it thoroughly. In 1919 he married the twenty year old operatta actress Elsie Altmann, who was the daughter of Adolf Altmann. In 1926 they divorced. In 1928 Loos was found partly guilty of pedophilia by a court. He had used young girls from poor families as models and had made them participate in sexual acts. He married the photographer Claire Beck in 1929 and 35 years his junior. In 1932 this marriage was dissolved as well. He died in 1933 and was buried at the Friedhof Kalksburg. Later his body was moved to a grave of honour at the Zentralfriedhof. In 2008 the records of the pedophilia case were rediscovered and they confirmed his guilt. Because of this it was decided in 2012 that his grave would no longer be a grave of honour but a 'historical grave' instead. Family • Wife: Loos, Lina (1902-1905, Eisgrub (now: Lednice, Czech Republic)) (divorce or separation) Related persons • was a friend of Kraus, Karl • was a friend of Schönberg, Arnold |
| Images |
 The grave of Adolf Loos at the Zentralfriedhof, Vienna. Picture by Androom (28 Aug 2016) |
Sources • Budig, Robert S. et al, Ehrengräber am Wiener Zentralfriedhof, Compress Verlag Wien, Wien • Adolf Loos - Wikipedia |
