John Jager (Slovenized: ''Ivan Jager''; May 16, 1871 – October 31, 1959) was a Slovene–American architect and urban planner. John Jager was born in Bistra,

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

(now Slovenia) at Railway Guard House 365A above the village, where his father worked as a railway guard. He was baptized ''Johann Jager''. He graduated from high school in

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...

in 1892, after which he studied architecture at the

Vienna University of Technology TU Wien (TUW; german: Technische Universität Wien; still known in English as the Vienna University of Technology from 1975–2014) is one of the major universities in Vienna, Austria. The university finds high international and domestic recogn ...

under

Joseph Maria Olbrich Joseph Maria Olbrich (22 December 1867 – 8 August 1908) was an Austrian architect and one of the Vienna Secession founders. Early life Olbrich was born in Opava, Austrian Silesia (now Czech Republic), the third child of Edmund and Aloisia O ...

and

Otto Wagner Otto Koloman Wagner (; 13 July 1841 – 11 April 1918) was an Austrian architect, furniture designer and urban planner. He was a leading member of the Vienna Secession movement of architecture, founded in 1897, and the broader Art Nouveau move ...

. In 1898, he toured

Lower Carniola Lower Carniola ( sl, Dolenjska; german: Unterkrain) is a traditional region in Slovenia, the southeastern part of the historical Carniola region. Geography Lower Carniola is delineated by the Ljubljana Basin with the city of Ljubljana to the no ...

Pivka Pivka (, german: St. Peter in Krain, it, San Pietro del Carso) is a small town in Slovenia in the Pivka Basin in the Karst region. It is the seat of the Municipality of Pivka. It belongs to the traditional region of Inner Carniola. Name Pivka wa ...

, the

Vipava Vipava can refer to: * Vipava, Vipava, town in southwestern Slovenia * Vipava (river), in Slovenia and Italy * Vipava Valley The Vipava Valley (; sl, Vipavska dolina, german: Wippachtal, it, Valle del Vipacco) is a valley in the Slovenian Li ...

region, and the

Karst Plateau The Karst Plateau or the Karst region ( sl, Kras, it, Carso), also locally called Karst, is a karst plateau region extending across the border of southwestern Slovenia and northeastern Italy. It lies between the Vipava Valley, the low hills sur ...

, where he collected folk motifs to decorate the National Café ( sl, Narodna kavarna) in Ljubljana. In Vienna, he worked as an assistant to

Max Fabiani Maximilian Fabiani, commonly known as Max Fabiani ( it, Massimo, sl, Maks) (29 April 1865 – 12 August 1962) was a cosmopolitan trilingual architect and town planner of mixed Italian-Austrian ancestry, born in the village of Kobdilj near Š ...

. He graduated from the University of Vienna in 1900. In 1901, he went to

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

at the invitation of the Austrian government to build shelters for its soldiers during the

Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, the Boxer Insurrection, or the Yihetuan Movement, was an anti-foreign, anti-colonial, and anti-Christian uprising in China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by ...

. He emigrated to the United States in 1902. In 1918, Jager traveled to Serbia, where he worked as an inspector for a Red Cross unit in charge of rebuilding 60 villages damaged during the First World War; for this work he was made a Red Cross captain, and in 1940 he was awarded the

Order of the Yugoslav Crown The Royal Order of the Yugoslav Crown was instituted by King Alexander I of Yugoslavia on 5 April 1930, to commemorate his changing of the name of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. It continues as a dynas ...

. Jager lived in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

, where he died in 1959.

Works

Church of St. Stephen (St. Stephen, Minnesota) 1.jpg, Saint Stephen's Catholic Church in

St. Stephen, Minnesota Saint Stephen is a city in Stearns County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 851 at the 2010 census. Saint Stephen is part of the Saint Cloud Metropolitan Statistical Area. History St. Stephen was incorporated in 1914. The city c ...

Church of St Bernard.jpg, Saint Bernard's Catholic Church in

Saint Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County, Minnesota, Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississip ...

, built 1905–1914 John Jager House (1904).jpg, House at 6 Red Cedar Lane,

, Minnesota, built in 1904

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jager, John 1871 births 1959 deaths Slovenian architects 20th-century American architects Architects from Minnesota Slovenian emigrants to the United States