Erich Mendelsohn
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Erich Mendelsohn (21 March 1887 – 15 September 1953) was a German architect, known for his
expressionist architecture Expressionist architecture was an architectural movement in Europe during the first decades of the 20th century in parallel with the expressionist visual and performing arts that especially developed and dominated in Germany. Brick Expressionis ...
in the 1920s, as well as for developing a dynamic functionalism in his projects for department stores and cinemas. Mendelsohn was a pioneer of the
Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
and
Streamline Moderne Streamline Moderne is an international style of Art Deco architecture and design that emerged in the 1930s. Inspired by aerodynamic design, it emphasized curving forms, long horizontal lines, and sometimes nautical elements. In industrial design ...
architecture, notably with his 1921
Mossehaus Mossehaus is an office building on 18–25 Schützenstraße in Berlin, renovated and with a corner designed by Erich Mendelsohn between 1921 and 1923. The original Mosse building housed the printing press and offices of the newspapers owned by Ru ...
design.


Biography

Mendelsohn was born to a
Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
family in
Allenstein Olsztyn ( , ; german: Allenstein ; Old Prussian: ''Alnāsteini'' * Latin: ''Allenstenium'', ''Holstin'') is a city on the Łyna River in northern Poland. It is the capital of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, and is a city with county rights. ...
,
East Prussia East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label=Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 187 ...
,
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, now the Polish town of
Olsztyn Olsztyn ( , ; german: Allenstein ; Old Prussian: ''Alnāsteini'' * Latin: ''Allenstenium'', ''Holstin'') is a city on the Łyna River in northern Poland. It is the capital of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, and is a city with county rights. ...
. His birthplace was at the former Oberstrasse 21, now no. 10 Staromiejska street. A plaque embedded on the wall on the side of Barbara street commemorates his place of birth. He was not related to the
Mendelssohn family The Mendelssohn family are the descendants of Mendel of Dassau. The German Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn and his brother Saul were the first to adopt the surname Mendelssohn. The family includes his grandson, the composer Felix Mendelssoh ...
. He was the fifth of six children; his mother was Emma Esther (née Jaruslawsky), a hatmaker and his father David was a shopkeeper. He attended a humanist '' Gymnasium'' in Allenstein and continued with commercial training in Berlin. In 1906 he took up the study of national economics at the
University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's List of universities in Germany, sixth-oldest u ...
. In 1908 he began studying
architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...
at the
Technical University of Berlin The Technical University of Berlin (official name both in English and german: link=no, Technische Universität Berlin, also known as TU Berlin and Berlin Institute of Technology) is a public research university located in Berlin, Germany. It was ...
; two years later he transferred to the
Technical University of Munich The Technical University of Munich (TUM or TU Munich; german: Technische Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It specializes in engineering, technology, medicine, and applied and natural sciences. Establis ...
, where in 1912 he graduated ''
cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...
''. In
Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
he was influenced by
Theodor Fischer Theodor Fischer (28 May 1862 – 25 December 1938) was a German architect and teacher. Career Fischer planned public housing projects for the city of Munich beginning in 1893. He was the joint founder and first chairman of the Deutscher Wer ...
, an architect whose own work fell between neo-classical and
Jugendstil ''Jugendstil'' ("Youth Style") was an artistic movement, particularly in the decorative arts, that was influential primarily in Germany and elsewhere in Europe to a lesser extent from about 1895 until about 1910. It was the German counterpart of ...
, and who had been teaching there since 1907; Mendelsohn also made contact with members of
Der Blaue Reiter ''Der Blaue Reiter'' (The Blue Rider) is a designation by Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc for their exhibition and publication activities, in which both artists acted as sole editors in the almanac of the same name, first published in mid-May ...
and
Die Brücke The Brücke (Bridge), also Künstlergruppe Brücke or KG Brücke was a group of German expressionist artists formed in Dresden in 1905. Founding members were Fritz Bleyl, Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff. Later memb ...
, two groups of expressionist artists. From 1912 to 1914 he worked as an independent architect in Munich. In 1915 he married the
cellist The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, D3 ...
Luise Maas. Between 1910 and 1953 they corresponded with each other; these materials provide insight into the lives of an artist and couple who experienced a changing international landscape, including their fleeing from the Third Reich in Germany in 1933. Through his wife, he met the cello-playing astrophysicist
Erwin Finlay Freundlich Erwin Finlay-Freundlich FRSE FRAS (; 29 May 1885 – 24 July 1964) was a German astronomer, a pupil of Felix Klein. Freundlich was a working associate of Albert Einstein and introduced experiments for which the general theory of relativity could ...
. Freundlich was the brother of
Herbert Freundlich Herbert Max Finlay Freundlich (28 January 1880 in Charlottenburg – 30 March 1941 in Minneapolis) was a German chemist. His father was of German Jewish descent, and his mother ( Finlay) was from Scotland. His younger brother was Erwin Fi ...
, the deputy director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institut für Physikalische Chemie und Elektrochemie (now the
Fritz Haber Institute The Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society (FHI) is a science research institute located at the heart of the academic district of Dahlem, in Berlin, Germany. The original Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physical Chemistry and Electrochem ...
of the
Max Planck Society The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (german: Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften e. V.; abbreviated MPG) is a formally independent non-governmental and non-profit association of German research institutes. ...
in the Dahlem district of Berlin). Freundlich wished to build a suitable
astronomical Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, galaxies ...
observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. His ...
to experimentally confirm
Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...
's
Theory of Relativity The theory of relativity usually encompasses two interrelated theories by Albert Einstein: special relativity and general relativity, proposed and published in 1905 and 1915, respectively. Special relativity applies to all physical phenomena in ...
. Through his relationship with Freundlich, Mendelsohn had the opportunity to design and build the ''Einsteinturm'' ("
Einstein Tower The Einstein Tower (German: ''Einsteinturm'') is an astrophysical observatory in the Albert Einstein Science Park in Potsdam, Germany built by architect Erich Mendelsohn. It was built on the summit of the Potsdam '' Telegraphenberg'' to house ...
"). This relationship and also the family friendship with the
Luckenwalde Luckenwalde (; Upper and dsb, Łukowc) is the capital of the Teltow-Fläming district in the German state of Brandenburg. It is situated on the Nuthe river north of the Fläming Heath, at the eastern rim of the Nuthe-Nieplitz Nature Park, abou ...
hat manufacturers Salomon and Gustav Herrmann helped Mendelsohn to an early success. From then until 1918, what is known of Mendelsohn is, above all, a multiplicity of sketches of factories and other large buildings, often in small format or in letters from the front to his wife, Louise Mendelsohn (née Maas; 1895–1980). The 2011 documentary film by Duki Dror titled "Incessant Visions" is about Erich Mendelsohn and his wife, in which Dror animates the memoirs of Louise and the letters.


Architecture career

At the end of 1918, upon his return from
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, he settled his practice in Berlin. The Einsteinturm and the hat factory in Luckenwalde established his reputation. The Hat Factory was commissioned in 1921, Mendelsohn's design included four production halls, a boiler, a turbine house, two gatehouses and a dyeing hall. The dyeing hall became a distinctive feature of the factory, the building was shaped with a modern ventilation hood that expelled the toxic fumes used in the dyeing process. The structure even ironically resembled a hat. As early as 1924 ''Wasmuths Monatshefte für Baukunst'' (a series of monthly magazines on architecture) produced a booklet about his work. In that same year, along with
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Ludwig Mies van der Rohe ( ; ; born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies; March 27, 1886August 17, 1969) was a German-American architect. He was commonly referred to as Mies, his surname. Along with Alvar Aalto, Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and Frank Lloyd ...
and
Walter Gropius Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (18 May 1883 – 5 July 1969) was a German-American architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in conne ...
, he was one of the founders of the progressive architectural group known as
Der Ring Der Ring was an architectural collective founded in 1926 in Berlin. It emerged from expressionist architecture with a functionalist agenda. Der Ring was a group of young architects, formed with the objective of promoting Modernist architecture. ...
. His practice employed as many as forty people, among them, as a trainee,
Julius Posener Julius Posener (4 November 1904, Lichterfelde – 29 January 1996, Berlin) was a German architectural historian, author and higher education teacher. Coming from a bourgeois-Jewish background, son of the painter Moritz Posener and a daughter of th ...
, later an architectural historian. Mendelsohn's work encapsulated the consumerism of the
Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...
, most particularly in his shops: most famously the
Schocken Department Stores Schocken Department Stores (Kaufhaus Schocken) was a chain of department stores in Germany before World War II. History The company was founded by Simon Schocken (1874–1929) and Salman Schocken (1877–1959). After Simon had married into the ...
. Nonetheless, he was also interested in the socialist experiments being made in the
USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
, where he designed the
Red Banner Textile Factory The Red Banner Textile Factory (russian: Трикотажная фабрика «Красное Знамя»; ''Trikotazhnaya fabrika "Krasnoye Znamya"'') in Leningrad (now St Petersburg), ''Pionerskaya ulitsa'' (Pioneers street), 53 was designed ...
in 1926 (together with the senior architect of this project, Hyppolit Pretreaus). His
Mossehaus Mossehaus is an office building on 18–25 Schützenstraße in Berlin, renovated and with a corner designed by Erich Mendelsohn between 1921 and 1923. The original Mosse building housed the printing press and offices of the newspapers owned by Ru ...
newspaper offices and Universum cinema were also highly influential on art deco and
Streamline Moderne Streamline Moderne is an international style of Art Deco architecture and design that emerged in the 1930s. Inspired by aerodynamic design, it emphasized curving forms, long horizontal lines, and sometimes nautical elements. In industrial design ...
. In 1926, he bought an old villa, and in 1928, he designed Rupenhorn, nearly 4000 m2, which the family occupied two years later. With an expensive publication about his new home, illustrated by
Amédée Ozenfant Amédée Ozenfant (15 April 1886 – 4 May 1966) was a French cubist painter and writer. Together with Charles-Edouard Jeanneret (later known as Le Corbusier) he founded the Purist movement. Education Ozenfant was born into a bourgeois f ...
among others, Mendelsohn became the subject of envy. In the spring of 1933, in the wake of growing
antisemitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...
and the rise of the Nazis in Germany, he fled to England. His assets were seized by the
Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
, his name struck from the list of the German Architects' Union, and he was excluded from the
Prussian Academy of Arts The Prussian Academy of Arts (German: ''Preußische Akademie der Künste'') was a state arts academy first established in Berlin, Brandenburg, in 1694/1696 by prince-elector Frederick III, in personal union Duke Frederick I of Prussia, and late ...
. In England he formed an architectural practice with
Serge Chermayeff Serge Ivan Chermayeff (born Sergei Ivanovich Issakovich; russian: link=no, Сергей Ива́нович Иссако́вич; 8 October 1900 – 8 May 1996) was a Russian-born British architect, industrial designer, writer, and co-founder of ...
, which continued until the end of 1936 and together they designed two important private houses – Cohen House and
Shrubs Wood Shrubs Wood is a privately owned, Grade II* listed, Art Deco country house in Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire, England. Built between 1933 and 1934, Shrubs Wood was designed by Erich Mendelsohn and Serge Chermayeff Serge Ivan Chermayeff (b ...
– and the
De La Warr Pavilion The De La Warr Pavilion is a grade I listed building, located on the seafront at Bexhill on Sea, East Sussex, on the south coast of England. The Modernist and International Style building was designed by the architects Erich Mendelsohn and Ser ...
, an entertainment and arts complex in the seaside town of Bexhill-on-Sea, commissioned and paid for by the local landowner. Mendelsohn had long known
Chaim Weizmann Chaim Azriel Weizmann ( he, חיים עזריאל ויצמן ', russian: Хаим Евзорович Вейцман, ''Khaim Evzorovich Veytsman''; 27 November 1874 – 9 November 1952) was a Russian-born biochemist, Zionist leader and Israel ...
, later
President of Israel The president of the State of Israel ( he, נְשִׂיא מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, Nesi Medinat Yisra'el, or he, נְשִׂיא הַמְדִינָה, Nesi HaMedina, President of the State) is the head of state of Israel. The posi ...
. At the start of 1934 he began planning on Weizmann's behalf a series of projects in
Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
during the British Mandate. In 1935, he opened an office in
Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
and planned
Jerusalem stone Jerusalem stone (Hebrew: אבן ירושלמית; Arabic: حجر القدس) is a name applied to various types of pale limestone, Dolomite (rock), dolomite and Dolomite (rock), dolomitic limestone, common in and around Jerusalem that have been u ...
buildings in the International Style that greatly influenced local architecture. In 1938 he dissolved his London office. At that same time he and his wife received British citizenship and he changed his name to "Eric"; the new citizenship also allowed them to issue guarantees and thus bring other family members to Britain. In Palestine, Mendelsohn built many now-famous buildings: Weizmann House and three laboratories at the
Weizmann Institute of Science The Weizmann Institute of Science ( he, מכון ויצמן למדע ''Machon Vaitzman LeMada'') is a public research university in Rehovot, Israel, established in 1934, 14 years before the State of Israel. It differs from other Israeli unive ...
,
Anglo-Palestine Bank Bank Leumi ( he, בנק לאומי, lit. ''National Bank''; ar, بنك لئومي) is an Israeli bank. It was founded on February 27, 1902, in Jaffa as the ''Anglo Palestine Company'' as subsidiary of the Jewish Colonial Trust (Jüdische Kolonia ...
in Jerusalem,
Hadassah Hospital Hadassah Medical Center ( he, הָמֶרְכָּז הָרְפוּאִי הֲדַסָּה) is an Israeli medical organization established in 1934 that operates two university hospitals in Jerusalem – one in Ein Karem and one in Mount Scopus –, ...
on
Mount Scopus Mount Scopus ( he, הַר הַצּוֹפִים ', "Mount of the Watchmen/ Sentinels"; ar, جبل المشارف ', lit. "Mount Lookout", or ' "Mount of the Scene/Burial Site", or ) is a mountain (elevation: above sea level) in northeast Je ...
,
Rambam Hospital Rambam Health Care Campus ( he, רמב"ם - הקריה הרפואית לבריאות האדם) commonly called Rambam Hospital, is a teaching hospital in the Bat Galim neighborhood of Haifa, Israel founded in 1938, 10 years before the establishme ...
in
Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...
and others. From 1941 until his death, Mendelsohn lived in the United States and taught at the
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
. Until the end of
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
his activities were limited by his immigration status to lectures and publications. However, he also served as an advisor to the U.S. government. For instance, in 1943 he collaborated with the U.S. Army and
Standard Oil Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co-f ...
in order to build "
German Village German Village is a historic neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio, just south of the city's downtown. It was settled in the early-to-mid-19th century by a large number of German immigrants, who at one time comprised as much as a third of the city's ...
", a set of replicas of typical German working-class housing estates, which would be of key importance in acquiring the know-how and experience necessary to carry out the firebombing of Berlin.Quoted by Mike Davis in Chapter 3 of his wor
Dead Cities
The original reference, according to thi
online version of the chapter
is "Design and Construction of Typical German and Japanese Test Structures at Dugway Proving Grounds, Utah" 27 May 1943, by the Standard Oil Development Company.
In 1945, he established himself in
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
. From then until his death in 1953 he undertook various projects, mostly for Jewish communities.


Buildings (selected)

* Taharah building in
Allenstein Olsztyn ( , ; german: Allenstein ; Old Prussian: ''Alnāsteini'' * Latin: ''Allenstenium'', ''Holstin'') is a city on the Łyna River in northern Poland. It is the capital of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, and is a city with county rights. ...
(1913), today known as the Mendelsohn house. * Work hall of the Herrmann hat factory, Luckenwalde (1919-1920) *
Einsteinturm The Einstein Tower (German: ''Einsteinturm'') is an astrophysical observatory in the Albert Einstein Science Park in Potsdam, Germany built by architect Erich Mendelsohn. It was built on the summit of the Potsdam ''Prussian semaphore system#Route ...
(solar observatory on the Telegraphenberg) in
Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...
, 1917 or 1920-1921 ''(building), 1921-1924 (technical equipment).'' The tower's
expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...
form is suggestive of
concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wi ...
as a building material, but it is mostly brickwork, rendered. Mendelsohn explained this was because of delivery problems; however, there may have been difficulties in constructing the formwork for poured concrete. * Steinberg hat factory, Herrmann & Co, Luckenwalde (1921-1923) with a strict, angular form *
Mossehaus Mossehaus is an office building on 18–25 Schützenstraße in Berlin, renovated and with a corner designed by Erich Mendelsohn between 1921 and 1923. The original Mosse building housed the printing press and offices of the newspapers owned by Ru ...
, conversion of the offices and press of Rudolf Mosse, Berlin (1921-1923) * Schocken department store,
Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...
(1925-1926) *
Red Flag Textile Factory The Red Banner Textile Factory (russian: Трикотажная фабрика «Красное Знамя»; ''Trikotazhnaya fabrika "Krasnoye Znamya"'') in Leningrad (now St Petersburg), ''Pionerskaya ulitsa'' (Pioneers street), 53 was designed ...
,
Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, 1926. Mendelsohn authored the building of the power station of the factory; the other buildings were authored by S. O. Ovsyannikov, E. A. Tretyakov, and Hyppolit Pretreaus, who was the senior architect of this project. The complex of buildings of this factory is included in the ''List of the objects of historical and cultural heritage'' issued by the government of
Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
in 2001 (with additions of 2006). * Extension and conversion of Cohen & Epstein department store,
Duisburg Duisburg () is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine and the Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruhr Region, Duisburg is the 5th largest city in Nor ...
(1925-1927) *
Schocken department store Schocken Department Stores (Kaufhaus Schocken) was a chain of department stores in Germany before World War II. History The company was founded by Simon Schocken (1874–1929) and Salman Schocken (1877–1959). After Simon had married into the ...
,
Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...
(1926-1928). The department store, together with the Tagblatt-Turm (1924-1928) of Ernst-Otto Oßwald across the way, constituted an impressive ensemble of modern architecture, and was damaged only lightly in World War II. In 1960, the city of Stuttgart demolished the store, despite international protest. In its place today stands Egon Eiermann's unremarkable department store building (Galeria Kaufhof, previously Horten). * Exhibition pavilion for the Rudolf Mosse publishing house at the ''
Pressa ''Pressa'' was an International Press Exhibition held in Cologne between May and October, 1928. As German exhibitors were barred from participating in the ''Exposition International des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modern'' held in Paris in ...
'' in
Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...
(1928) * Woga-Komplex and Universum-Kino (cinema), Berlin (1925-1931) * Schocken department store,
Chemnitz Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt , ) is the third-largest city in the German state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden. It is the 28th largest city of Germany as well as the fourth largest city in the area of former East Germany a ...
(1927-1930), known for its arched front with horizontal strips of windows. * His own home, Am Rupenhorn, Berlin (1928-1930) *
Columbushaus The Columbushaus (Columbus House) was a nine-storey modernist office and shopping building in Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, designed by Erich Mendelsohn and completed in 1932. It was an icon of progressive architecture which passed relatively unscat ...
,
Potsdamer Platz Potsdamer Platz (, ''Potsdam Square'') is a public square and traffic intersection in the center of Berlin, Germany, lying about south of the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag (German Parliament Building), and close to the southeast corne ...
, Berlin (1928-1932). Burnt out during the June 1953 uprising and demolished in 1957 (sometimes confused with the “
Columbia-Haus Columbia concentration camp (also known as Columbia-Haus) was a Nazi concentration camp situated in the Tempelhof area of Berlin. It was one of the first such institutions established by the regime. Development Originally called ''Strafgefängni ...
" camp in
Berlin-Tempelhof Tempelhof () is a locality of Berlin within the borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg. It is the location of the former Tempelhof Airport, one of the earliest commercial airports in the world. The former airport and surroundings are now a park called ...
, demolished 1937). * Bachner department store in
Ostrava Ostrava (; pl, Ostrawa; german: Ostrau ) is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic, and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It has about 280,000 inhabitants. It lies from the border with Poland, at the confluences of four rive ...
(1932-1933) * Jewish youth center,
Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...
(1930-1933) * Nimmo House (later renamed
Shrubs Wood Shrubs Wood is a privately owned, Grade II* listed, Art Deco country house in Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire, England. Built between 1933 and 1934, Shrubs Wood was designed by Erich Mendelsohn and Serge Chermayeff Serge Ivan Chermayeff (b ...
by former owner
Bridget D'Oyly Carte Dame Bridget D'Oyly Carte DBE (25 March 1908 – 2 May 1985) was head of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company from 1948 until 1982. She was the granddaughter of the impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte and the only daughter of Rupert D'Oyly Carte. Thoug ...
), Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire, England (1933–1934). In collaboration with
Serge Chermayeff Serge Ivan Chermayeff (born Sergei Ivanovich Issakovich; russian: link=no, Сергей Ива́нович Иссако́вич; 8 October 1900 – 8 May 1996) was a Russian-born British architect, industrial designer, writer, and co-founder of ...
. *
The De La Warr Pavilion The De La Warr Pavilion is a grade I listed building, located on the seafront at Bexhill on Sea, East Sussex, on the south coast of England. The Modernist and International Style building was designed by the architects Erich Mendelsohn and S ...
, The Promenade,
Bexhill-on-Sea Bexhill-on-Sea (often shortened to Bexhill) is a seaside town and civil parish situated in the county of East Sussex in South East England. An ancient town and part of the local government district of Rother, Bexhill is home to a number of arc ...
,
Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...
, England (1934). Commissioned by Earl De La Warr and designed in partnership with
Serge Chermayeff Serge Ivan Chermayeff (born Sergei Ivanovich Issakovich; russian: link=no, Сергей Ива́нович Иссако́вич; 8 October 1900 – 8 May 1996) was a Russian-born British architect, industrial designer, writer, and co-founder of ...
. * Cohen House, Old Church Street, Chelsea, London (1934-1936). Designed in partnership with
Serge Chermayeff Serge Ivan Chermayeff (born Sergei Ivanovich Issakovich; russian: link=no, Сергей Ива́нович Иссако́вич; 8 October 1900 – 8 May 1996) was a Russian-born British architect, industrial designer, writer, and co-founder of ...
. Later renamed Hamlyn House and restored and extended by Sir Norman Foster * Weizmann House,
Weizmann Institute The Weizmann Institute of Science ( he, מכון ויצמן למדע ''Machon Vaitzman LeMada'') is a public research university in Rehovot, Israel, established in 1934, 14 years before the State of Israel. It differs from other Israeli univ ...
campus, Rehovot near Tel Aviv (1935-1936) * Built around the same time: a cluster of three buildings on the
Weizmann Institute The Weizmann Institute of Science ( he, מכון ויצמן למדע ''Machon Vaitzman LeMada'') is a public research university in Rehovot, Israel, established in 1934, 14 years before the State of Israel. It differs from other Israeli univ ...
campus, presently housing high-resolution NMR spectroscopy, NMR, biological MRI, and the Kimmel Center for Archeology, respectively * Hebrew University, Jerusalem (1934-1940) * Synagogue B'Nai Amoona, now Center of Creative Arts, University City, Missouri (1946-1950) * Maimonides Hospital,
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
(1946-1950) * Park Synagogue, Cleveland Heights, Ohio (1947-1951) * Beth El Synagogue, Baltimore, Maryland (1948)Modernistic New Synagogue To House Beth El Activities
. ''The Baltimore Sun''. 11 May 1948. p. 13.
* Russell House,
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
, California (1951) * Mt. Zion Temple, St. Paul, Minnesota (1950 – 1956). Construction completed after his death.


Published works (German)

* Erich Mendelsohn: ''Amerika. Bilderbuch eines Architekten'' (1976) Berlin: Nachdruck Da Capo Press, * Erich Mendelsohn: ''Rußland – Europa – Amerika. Ein architektonischer Querschnitt''. (1929) Berlin * Erich Mendelsohn: ''Neues Haus – Neue Welt. Mit Beiträgen von Amédée Ozenfant und Edwin Redslob'' (1932) Berlin. Reprinted, with an afterword by Bruno Zevi (1997) Berlin


References


Bibliography

* Bruno Zevi (1999) ''E. Mendelsohn – The Complete Works''. Birkhäuser Verlag * Von Eckardt, Wolf (1960) ''Masters of World Architecture: Eric Mendelsohn'' London: Mayflower. * Whittick, Arnold (1956) ''Erich Mendelsohn'' (2nd Ed.). New York: F.W. Dodge Corporation * ''Erich Mendelsohn: Complete Works of the Architect: Sketches, Designs, Buildings'' (1992 translation of Berlin, 1930 1st ed.) Princeton Architectural Press * David Palterer, ''Erich Mendelsohn: Nuove riflessioni'' (New reflections). Ed. Tre Lune Edizioni, 2004. , 100 p. ill. * David Palterer, "Tracce di Mendelsohn", in Domus, 646, 1984, pp. 4–9
Erich and Luise Mendelsohn papers, 1894-1992. Research Library at the Getty Research Institute. Los Angeles, California.
* —, ''Erich Mendelsohn: Das Gesamtschaffen des Architekten. Skizzen, Entwürfe, Bauten'' (1930) Berlin, Reprinted by Vieweg-Verlag, Braunschweig/Wiesbaden, 1988, * —, ''Erich Mendelsohn – Dynamik und Funktion, Katalog zur Ausstellung des Instituts für Auslandsbeziehungen e. V.'' (1999) Hatje Canz Verlag * Julius Posener: ''"Erich Mendelsohn". In: Vorlesungen zur Geschichte der neuen Architektur'', special issue of ''Arch+'' for the 75th birthday of
Julius Posener Julius Posener (4 November 1904, Lichterfelde – 29 January 1996, Berlin) was a German architectural historian, author and higher education teacher. Coming from a bourgeois-Jewish background, son of the painter Moritz Posener and a daughter of th ...
. Nr. 48, December 1997, 8-13 * Ita Heinze-Mühleib: ''Erich Mendelsohn. Bauten und Projekte in Palästina (1934-1941)'' * Sigrid Achenbach: ''Erich Mendelsohn 1887-1953 : Ideen – Bauten – Projekte''. Catalog for an exhibit on the 100th anniversary of his birth, Beständen der Kunstbibliothek, Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz. Willmuth Arenhövel Verlag, * Gary Berkovich, Berkovich, Gary. Reclaiming a History. Jewish Architects in Imperial Russia and the USSR. Volume 2. Soviet Avant-garde: 1917–1933. Weimar und Rostock: Grunberg Verlag. 2021. P. 155.


External links


Birthplace house of Mendelsohn

pre-burial house Mendelsohn planned in is hometown Olsztyn

EMA – Erich Mendelsohn Archive: Correspondence of Erich and Luise Mendelsohn 1910-1953

Mendelsohn's Incessant Visions – Biopic Film

Buildings by Erich Mendelsohn in Urbipedia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mendelsohn, Erich German architecture writers Erich Mendelsohn buildings, Expressionist architecture 1887 births 1953 deaths People from Olsztyn Jewish architects 20th-century German architects British architects Expressionist architects Art Deco architects Modernist architects Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom People from East Prussia Technical University of Munich alumni Art Nouveau architects Architects in Mandatory Palestine German male non-fiction writers British male writers Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom British emigrants to the United States