Rudolf Schindler

Rudolf Schindler (1887–1953) was an Austrian-American architect who worked in Los Angeles during the mid-20th century.

Early History

LETS HAVE SOME FUN. Schindler was most impressed by professor Carl König, despite the presence of many other famous notables (Otto Wagner, and Adolf Loos in particular). Most notably, in 1911, he was introduced to Frank Lloyd Wright when a librarian handed him the Wasmuth Portfolio. He also met lifelong friend and rival Richard Neutra at the university in 1912, before completing his thesis project in 1913.

In Vienna, Schindler acquired experience in the firm of Hans Mayr and Theodore Mayer, working there from September 1911 to February 1914. Schindler then moved to Chicago (home of Frank Lloyd Wright), to work in the firm of Ottenheimer, Stern, and Reichert (OSR), accepting a paycut to be in the progressive American city, home of Frank Lloyd Wright. He found New York, which he visited along the way, crowded, unattractive, and commercial. Chicago was more redeemable, however, with less congestion, and Henry Hobson Richardson, Louis Sullivan, and Frank Lloyd Wright's work.

Schindler's Early Career, and Frank Lloyd Wright

Schindler finally managed to contact Wright (writing letters in English – which he still did not fully understand) and met him for the first time on December 30, 1914. Wright had little work at this stage, and was still plagued by the destruction of Talesin and murder of his mistress earlier that year, and did not offer Schindler a job. Schindler continued work at OSR, keeping himself occupied with trips and study (notably coming across the early tilt up slab work of Irving Gill here), until Wright finally obtained the large commission of the Imperial Hotel, Tokyo, and hired Schindler to take care of the Chicago office in his absence (he also worked extensively on the imperial hotel itself). He worked mainly out of the Oak Park studio (less from Talesin), which was largely designed and built while Frank Lloyd Wright was still in Japan.

Schindler also met and married his wife Pauline Gibling (1893–1977) in 1919, before Wright had returned from Japan.

Schindler had already taken on several private commissions while in Los Angeles, but notably completed what many think is his finest building, his Kings Road House (also known as the Schindler house, or Schindler-Chase house), as an office/house for two men and two women (Schindler actively engaged in wife swapping), by late spring 1922. And had started to take on several projects of his own.

During this time, fractures started to appear in the Schindler-Wright relationship. Schindler claimed he was being excessively underpaid, and was, as well as his architectural affairs, running Lloyd Wrights businesses, such as the rental of the Oak Park houses. Of the houses Wright built in this period, the Hollyhock House was probably the most notable, which Schindler did most of the drawings for, and oversaw the construction of, while Frank Lloyd Wright was still in Japan. The client, Aline Barnsdall, subsequently became a client of Schindler himself, designing a number of small projects for her on Olive Hill, and a spectacular beachside 'translucent house' in 1927, which remains as one of the great unbuilt projects of the 20th century.

As Schindler was applying for a Los Angeles architects licence in 1929, he mentioned his extensive work on the architectural and structural plans of the imperial hotel. Wright, however, refused to back up these claims, claiming that he had done them all. Eventually, disputes over whos work was what spiralled, until Schindler released a flyer for a series of talks with Neutra, advertising himself as "in charge of the architectural office of Frank Lloyd Wright for two years during his absence". Wright refuted this claim, and two two split in 1931, and never reconciled until 1953, less than a year before Schindler's death.

Early work

Schindler's early buildings are usually characterised by concrete construction. The Kings Road House, Pueblo Ribera Court, Lovell Beach House, Wolfe House and How house are the most frequently identified projects. The Kings Road house was to work as a studio and home for Schindler, his wife, and friends Clyde and Marian DaCamara Chace, who all actively engaged in wife swapping. The plan worked itself around several L shapes, and the construction features included site cast tilt up concrete panels, which contrasted with the more 'open' walls of redwood and glass. It has largely become the symbol of Schindler's architecture.

Mid and late Career

In a search to create more inexpensive architecture, Schindler abanonded concrete, and turned to the plaster-skin design. This type of construction characteristic of his work throughout the 1930s and 40s, but his interest in form, and space never changed. He developed his own platform frame system, the Schindler Frame in 1945. His later work uses this extensively as a basis for experimentation.

Recognition

Schindler's early work, such as the Kings Road House, and Lovell Beach House went largely unnoticed in the wider architectural world. As early and radical as they were for modernism, they may have been too different for people to recognise, and Los Angeles was only a minor speck on the architectural map. Schindler was not included in the hugely influential International Style exhibit of 1932, whilst his compatriot, Neutra(who was incorrectly credited as the Austrian who worked on the Imperial Hotel with Wright), as well as Frank lloyd Wright were. His first real major exposure came in Esther McCoy's 'Five California Architects' of 1960. His work is undergoing somewhat of a modern revaluation, for its inventiveness, character, and formal qualities, which are bringing it to a new generation of younger architects.

Quotes

"Can't you give me two lines, just two lines of reccomendations without any hints at 'what a great man the boss is' and what poor fishes they are in comparison" – Schindler to Wright, while attempting to apply for his architects licence. "He has built quite a number of buildings in and around Los Angeles that seem to be admirable from the standpoint of design, and I have not heard of any of them falling down". – Wright "He has a good mind, is affectionate in disposition, and is fairly honorable I believe. Personally, though strongly individual, he is not unduly eccentric and I, in common with many others, like him very much" – Wright "Personally, I appreciate Rudolph. He is an incorrigable Bohemian and refuses to allow the Los Angeles barber to apply the razor to the scruff of his neck. He also has peculiarly simple and effective ideas reguarding his own personal conduct. I believe, however, that he is capable as an artist. I have found him a too complacent and therefore a rotten superintendent. The buildings that he has recently built in Los Angeles are well designed, but badly executed. I suspect him of trying to give his clients too much for their money. I should say that was his extreme fault in these circumstances of endeavoring to build buildings" – Wright "Rudolph was a patient assistant who seemed well aware of the significance of what I was then doing. His sympathetic appreciation never failed. His talents were adequate to any demands made upon them by me" – Wright at Schindlers Memorial Exhibition of 1954.