Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (18 May 1883 – 5 July 1969) was a German architect and founder of the Bauhaus School, who, along with Alvar Aalto, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright, is widely regarded as one of the pioneering masters of modernist architecture.
In 1908, after studying architecture in Munich and Berlin for four semesters, Gropius joined the office of the renowned architect and industrial designer Peter Behrens, one of the first members of the utilitarian school.
His fellow employees at this time included Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, and Dietrich Marcks. In 1910 Gropius left the firm of Behrens and together with fellow employee Adolf Meyer established a practice in Berlin.
Gropius was commissioned in 1913 to design a car for the Prussian Railroad Locomotive Works in Königsberg.
This locomotive was unique and the first of its kind in Germany and perhaps in Europe. Other works of this early period include the office and factory building for the Werkbund Exhibition (1914) in Cologne. In 1913, Gropius published an article about "The Development of Industrial Buildings," which included about a dozen photographs of factories and grain elevators in North America.
A very influential text, this article had a strong influence on other European modernists, including Le Corbusier and Erich Mendelsohn, both of whom reprinted Gropius's grain elevator pictures between 1920 and 1930. Gropius's career was interrupted by the outbreak of World War I in 1914.
He was drafted August 1914 and served as a sergeant major at the Western front during the war years (getting wounded and almost killed) and then as a lieutenant in the signal corps.
Walter's uncle Martin Gropius (1824-1880) was the architect of the Kunstgewerbemuseum in Berlin and a follower of Karl Friedrich Schinkel, with whom Walter's great-grandfather Carl Gropius, who fought under Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher at the Battle of Waterloo, had shared a flat as a bachelor. In 1915 Gropius married Alma Mahler (1879–1964), widow of Gustav Mahler.
Henry van de Velde, the master of the Grand-Ducal Saxon School of Arts and Crafts in Weimar was asked to step down in 1915 due to his Belgian nationality.
Walter and Alma's daughter, named Manon after Walter's mother, was born in 1916.
His recommendation for Gropius to succeed him led eventually to Gropius's appointment as master of the school in 1919.
The CD audiobook Bauhaus Reviewed 1919–33 includes a lengthy English Language interview with Gropius. Upon his death his widow, Ise Gropius, arranged to have his collection of papers divided into early and late papers.
Gropius and Mahler divorced in 1920.
A very influential text, this article had a strong influence on other European modernists, including Le Corbusier and Erich Mendelsohn, both of whom reprinted Gropius's grain elevator pictures between 1920 and 1930. Gropius's career was interrupted by the outbreak of World War I in 1914.
(She had by that time established a relationship with Franz Werfel, whom she later married.) On 16 October 1923, Gropius married Ilse (later Ise) Frank; they remained together until his death in 1969.
Gropius designed the new Bauhaus Dessau school building in 1925-26 on commission from the city of Dessau.
He also designed large-scale housing projects in Berlin, Karlsruhe and Dessau in 1926–32 that were major contributions to the New Objectivity movement, including a contribution to the Siemensstadt project in Berlin. Gropius left the Bauhaus in 1928 and moved to Berlin.
He also designed large-scale housing projects in Berlin, Karlsruhe and Dessau in 1926–32 that were major contributions to the New Objectivity movement, including a contribution to the Siemensstadt project in Berlin. Gropius left the Bauhaus in 1928 and moved to Berlin.
A very influential text, this article had a strong influence on other European modernists, including Le Corbusier and Erich Mendelsohn, both of whom reprinted Gropius's grain elevator pictures between 1920 and 1930. Gropius's career was interrupted by the outbreak of World War I in 1914.
His work was also part of the architecture event in the art competition at the 1932 Summer Olympics. === Post-Bauhaus (1933–45) === The rise of Hitler in the 1930s would soon drive Gropius out of Germany.
His work was also part of the architecture event in the art competition at the 1932 Summer Olympics. === Post-Bauhaus (1933–45) === The rise of Hitler in the 1930s would soon drive Gropius out of Germany.
Before that, however, he did accept an invitation in early 1933 to compete for the design of the new Reichsbank building and submitted a detailed plan. With the help of the English architect Maxwell Fry, Gropius was able to leave Nazi Germany in 1934, on the pretext of making a temporary visit to Italy for a film propaganda festival; he then fled to Britain to avoid the fascist powers of Europe.
Before that, however, he did accept an invitation in early 1933 to compete for the design of the new Reichsbank building and submitted a detailed plan. With the help of the English architect Maxwell Fry, Gropius was able to leave Nazi Germany in 1934, on the pretext of making a temporary visit to Italy for a film propaganda festival; he then fled to Britain to avoid the fascist powers of Europe.
When Manon died of polio at age 18, in 1935, composer Alban Berg wrote his Violin Concerto in memory of her (it is inscribed "to the memory of an angel").
Gropius and his second wife, Ise Gropius, arrived in the United States in February 1937, while their twelve-year-old daughter, Ati, finished the school year in England.
The late papers, relating to Gropius's career after 1937, and the photos of the early ones, then went to the Houghton Library at Harvard University; the early papers and photos of the late papers went to the Bauhaus Archiv, then in Darmstadt, since reestablished in Berlin.
Though built in 1938, the Gropiuses believed their house could embody architectural qualities similar to those practiced today, such as simplicity, economy, and aesthetic beauty.
In 1938 he was appointed Chair of the Department of Architecture, a post he held until his retirement in 1952.
The findings were used in planning raids such as the bombing of Hamburg in July 1943. In 1946, Gropius founded the young architects' association, The Architects' Collaborative (TAC), a manifestation of his lifelong belief in the significance of teamwork, which he had already successfully introduced at the Bauhaus.
In 1944, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. Gropius was one of several refugee German architects who provided information to confirm the typical construction of German houses to the RE8 research department set up by the British Air Ministry.
The findings were used in planning raids such as the bombing of Hamburg in July 1943. In 1946, Gropius founded the young architects' association, The Architects' Collaborative (TAC), a manifestation of his lifelong belief in the significance of teamwork, which he had already successfully introduced at the Bauhaus.
The well-known architect designed the Richards and Child residence halls on the Harvard campus that were built in the 1950s.
In 1938 he was appointed Chair of the Department of Architecture, a post he held until his retirement in 1952.
The Gropius house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988 and is now available to the public for tours. Bauhaus Center Tel Aviv in the White City recognizes the greatest concentration of Bauhaus buildings in the world. In 1959 he received the AIA Gold Medal.
TAC went bankrupt in 1995. In 1967, Gropius was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member and became a full Academician in 1968. == Death == Gropius died on July 5, 1969, in Boston, Massachusetts, aged 86.
TAC went bankrupt in 1995. In 1967, Gropius was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member and became a full Academician in 1968. == Death == Gropius died on July 5, 1969, in Boston, Massachusetts, aged 86.
Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (18 May 1883 – 5 July 1969) was a German architect and founder of the Bauhaus School, who, along with Alvar Aalto, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright, is widely regarded as one of the pioneering masters of modernist architecture.
(She had by that time established a relationship with Franz Werfel, whom she later married.) On 16 October 1923, Gropius married Ilse (later Ise) Frank; they remained together until his death in 1969.
TAC went bankrupt in 1995. In 1967, Gropius was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member and became a full Academician in 1968. == Death == Gropius died on July 5, 1969, in Boston, Massachusetts, aged 86.
Gropius also deeded the Gropius House in Lincoln to Historic New England in 1980.
Ise Gropius died on 9 June 1983 in Lexington, Massachusetts. Walter's only sister Manon Burchard (1880-1975) is the great-grandmother of the German film and theater actresses Marie Burchard and Bettina Burchard, and of the curator and art historian Wolf Burchard. == Career == === Early career (1908–1914) === Gropius could not draw, and was dependent on collaborators and partner-interpreters throughout his career.
The Gropius house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988 and is now available to the public for tours. Bauhaus Center Tel Aviv in the White City recognizes the greatest concentration of Bauhaus buildings in the world. In 1959 he received the AIA Gold Medal.
In the early 1990s, a series of books entitled The Walter Gropius Archive was published covering his entire architectural career.
TAC went bankrupt in 1995. In 1967, Gropius was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member and became a full Academician in 1968. == Death == Gropius died on July 5, 1969, in Boston, Massachusetts, aged 86.
Gropius's house received a huge response and was declared a National Landmark in 2000. Gropius and his Bauhaus protégé Marcel Breuer both moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to teach at the Harvard Graduate School of Design (1937–1952) and collaborate on projects including The Alan I W Frank House in Pittsburgh and the company-town Aluminum City Terrace project in New Kensington, Pennsylvania, before their professional split.
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