Maker/Artist
Neutra, Richard
American architect, 1892-1970, born in Austria
Neutra studied architecture under Rudolf Saliger, Karl Mayreder and Max Fabiani at the Technische Hochshule in Vienna from 1911 to 1915 and from 1917 to 1918. He was greatly influenced by Otto Wagner and Adolf Loos. In 1912, he met Rudolph Schindler and the two were both employees of Frank Lloyd Wright. He moved to California, and in 1927 he designed the Lovell House, which featured a light steel frame and glass and sprayed concrete exterior walls, which dramatized the house’s hillside location. Through his work and writing, Neutra became a prominent Modernist, being included in MOMA’s 1932 exhibit on the International Style of architecture. He became known for his large-scale dwellings, such as Channel Heights housing project (1942) overlooking San Pedro in Los Angeles. Through the 1940s, his designs continued to emphasize the relationship between building and landscape, but his designs became less severe, such as the brick and redwood the Nesbitt house (1942). In partnership with Robert E. Alexander (1949-1958), he built several larger commercial and institutional buildings, including the US Embassy Building (1959) in Karachi, Pakistan. He formed a partnership with his son Dion Neutra, in 1965.
