Richard Joseph Neutra, FAIA

Year Awarded: 1977
Born: April 08, 1892; Vienna, Austria
Died: 1970; Los Angeles,California,USA

Quote
Place man in relationship to nature; that's where he developed and where he feels most at home!


Projects
• 1969: Delcourt House, Croix, Nord, France
• 1967: Research House II, Los Angeles
• 1965: Kemper House, Wuppertal
• 1963: Lincoln Memorial Museum, Gettysburg
• 1961: Cyclorama Center at Military Gettysburg National Park
• 1958: Rivera Methodist Church, Redondo Beach
• 1957: Miramar Chapel, San Diego-La Jolla
• 1952: Moore House, Ojai, Calif.
• 1950: Tremaine House, Montecito, Calif.
• 1948: Holiday Apartments, Malibu
• 1946: Desert House, Colorado
• 1942: Nesbitt House, Los Angeles
• 1938: Emerson Junior High School, Los Angeles
• 1935: Corona Avenue School, Los Angeles
• 1932: Channel Heights Housing Project, San Pedro
• 1929: Lovell Health House, Los Angeles
• 1927: Jardinette Apartments, Los Angeles
• 1923: Rudolf-Mosse Press Building (Berliner Tageblatt), Berlin-Mitte


Biography
Richard Neutra was born in Vienna and studied there with Adolf Loos from 1912 to 1914. He graduated from the Technical University in Vienna in 1917. In 1919, after fighting in World War I, he went to Berlin, where he worked with modernist architect Erich Mendelsohn. He emigrated to the United States in 1923, working for Frank Lloyd Wright for a short time near Chicago.

Neutra moved to Los Angeles in 1925 and worked with Rudolf Schindler, whom he had met while still at university in Austria. In 1926 he opened his own practice in Los Angeles with his wife, Dione. From 1949 to 1958, he partnered with Robert Alexander, a protégé. From 1965 until his death, he worked with his son Dion. He wrote a number of books, including Survival through Design (1954), World and Dwelling (trans. 1962), Life and Shape (1962), and Building with Nature (1971).

Neutra was influential in the development of the California Modern style. Responding to the climate in Southern California, he specialized in blending indoor and outdoor spaces, often through an extensive use of glass, opening his buildings directly to their surrounding environments.

At a time when most architects were more concerned with their own vision for a project than the client’s need, Neutra was known for his attention to his clients’ wishes. The architect was committed to melding comfort, the natural environment, and beauty in his designs.