Wagner, Loos, then Wright
then everything on his own
crystalline structures...
Wolfe House (1928)
In many ways Schindler was Usonian before Usonian was Usonian. In
fact, there are many elements of Schindler’s work (the L shaped house plan with
plumbing in the elbow of the L; the horizontal woodwork set at unit lengths
that dictated the construction of the house; used built-ins to expand space;
minimized foundation area; focused on affordability) that appear in Wright’s
Usonians.
Born in 1887 in Vienna, Austria, Schindler studied engineering and architecture
at eh Vienna Academy of Fine Arts under Otto Wagner between 1910 and 1913 and
then attended classes taught by Adolf Loos in 1913, where he met Richard
Neutra. While in Vienna, he saw Frank Lloyd Wright’s Wasmuth Portfolio and, at
the encouragement of Loos, moved to Chicago in 1914 to work for Ottenheimer,
Stern, and Reichert (Ottenheimer had worked for Louis Sullivan). In 1915,
Schindler took a six-week trip to California to see a couple international
exhibitions. Along the way, he stopped in Taos, New Mexico, and was smitten,
designing an adobe house. In Los Angeles, he was fascinated by the sparse,
white work of Irving Gill, a former employee of Louis Sullivan in Chicago. In
1916, Schindler began writing Wright for a job. At first, Wright couldn’t hire
him (Wright was struggling financially due to the moral backlash of leaving his
wife and six kids behind in favor of a client’s wife), so Schindler worked as
an engineer at a local firm, Ottenheimer, Stern, and Reichert.
It wasn’t until 1917 that Wright hired him to run his Chicago office
while Wright worked on the Imperial Hotel in Toyko. In 1921, Wright asked
Schindler to go to Los Angeles to work on the Barnsdall (Hollyhock) House. During
his tenure with Wright, he designed several houses for Wright under Wright’s
name. In 1921, enamored with the California climate, not able to return to a
home ravaged by war, and concerned about wilting under Wright’s long shadow, Schindler
started his own firm.
Inspired by outdoor living and camaraderie during a camping trip and
the pueblos of New Mexico (and desire to ground his architecture in the
vernacular), Schindler designed and built in 1921 and 1922 what is now
considered one of the gems of Modern architecture and one of the very first
modern homes, the Kings Road House (also called the Schindler/Chace House). The
house consists of two L-shapes with a kitchen (the “campfire”) shared between
the two units as well as an offshoot of guest quarters. The house is notable
for it’s direct connection with the outdoors yet positioning the two units to
maintain privacy (a “trick” that Schindler would employ time and again on a
number of subsequently designed multi-unit apartments). With this house,
Schindler is credited with inventing the sliding glass wall.
Kings Road House (1921-1922)
As a side note, Schindler and his wife separated in 1927. In 1936
she moved into half of the Kings Road House, communicating infrequently with
her husband. When she later wanted to paint the outside of her half of the
house, he sent her a letter: “Kings Road was built as a protest against the
American habit of covering their life and their buildings with coats of finish
material to fool the onlooker about their common base. Kings Road was conceived
as a combination of honest materials, concrete--redwood--glass, which we to be
left to show the inner structure and their natural color.” She waited until he
died before painting the house.
During this period, Schindler designed and built the Lovell Beach
House (considered another icon of Modern architecture) between 1922 and 1926. It’s
with this house that he developed his blocky language informed by the
neoplasticism of de Stijl.
Lovell Beach House (1922-1926)
Schindler helped his old school buddy, Richard Neutra, get into
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesen school. However, Neutra left after a few months
and moved into the Kings Road House in 1925 where, at the beckoning of Neutra,
they joined forces as The Architectural Group for Industry and Commerce. Schindler
was something of a beatnik, comfortable with his small commissions. However,
Neutra was ambitious, forming the firm to pursue large projects and
commissions. The partnership lasted two years before disagreements over credit
(Schindler’s name was left off of an award-winning design touring Europe)
severed the relationship. Neutra went on to design the Lovell Health House
(which, to my eyes, borrows from the Schindler’s Beach House).
Neutra and Schindler (with Dion and Dione Neutra) in happier days...
Schindler was something of an architectural contortionist, forced by
California’s topography (and fantastic scenary) to bend his structures to the
land and view. He became known for producing as much house as a small lot and budget
would support, something his clients appreciated. He optimized his designs to
the dimensions of American building materials to eliminate waste. Unlike his
European contemporaries, who set up strict design rules and restrictions,
Schindler was non-dogmatic, willing to compromise aesthetics to accommodate
interiors, views, and clients’ wishes (I reckon that was the engineer in him:
aesthetics sacrificed to utility [although I find the majority of his houses
quite engaging]). Schindler called his philosophy “Space Architecture”, architecture
with an emphasis on the space inside rather than the walls outside.
Schindler’s architecture was heavily influenced by Wright’s site
considerations and Loos’s focus on the interior and use of load bearing walls.
His unwillingness to follow the dogma of the day and his association with
Wright (as well as his penchant for lashing out at his critics) ostracized him
from his contemporaries. For example, the 1932 show at the Museum of Modern Art
in New York, curated by Philip Johnson, purposefully and stunningly excluded
Schindler, stating that he “...belongs in the group of Wright followers.” Later,
Johnson recognized his mistake: “[Schindler] was badly overlooked during his
lifetime and I must confess my part in it. ... Now I believe Schindler was a
much more important figure than I had casually assumed...the most important
architect in California in his day.” Johnson claimed that he got most of his
information about Schindler from Neutra: “Neutra was really evil, badmouthed everyone,
especially Schindler...” (of course, Johnson’s not exactly Mother Theresa, so
one has to wonder about his blaming Neutra…). Johnson, who helped coin the term
“International Style”, pursued a true international style dogmatically (and
ill-advisedly) independent of site considerations. Schindler was also
inexplicitly excluded from the Case Study House program despite having
influenced, either directly or indirectly, many of the houses built for the
program.
Schindler designed over 400 projects, 150 of which were built during
his career. He tended to build his projects, changing the design (such as
window placement) if needed during the design. He also seems to have been a
likable fellow (as long as you weren’t unfairly disparaging his work). Dione
Neutra noted that Schindler “…laughs a lot and radiates cheerful optimism.”
Frank Lloyd Wright said that “Rudy Schindler was too smooth a party ever to
learn how to be serious, which is the reason why I liked him.”
Howe House (1925)
Toward the end of his life, Schindler suffered from cancer. In 1953,
when Schindler was in the hospital, Neutra, recovering from his second heart
attack, was randomly assigned to Schindler’s room. Both were stunned at the
happenstance, having not met or talked for nearly 20 years, but partly
rekindled their friendship by reminiscing about Vienna and the past. Later that
year, he passed away.
Although Schindler’s work had been published in some (primarily
regional) architectural magazines, his first real major exposure came in Esther
McCoy's “Five California Architects” published in 1960, a book that also
elevated the reputation of Gill. McCoy worked in Schindler’s office as did Gregory
Ain, Richard Lind, and Harwell Hamilton Harris (who later joined and deaned the
School of Architecture at The University of Texas at Austin).
And finally there is this quote from the man himself:
"We have come down to earth. This is expressed in modern
architecture. Modern architecture lies down flat on the ground like a kitten
who suns itself. It does not rise to a pyramid."
Gotta love a dude who uses a kitten as an analogy!
Occasional tables.
