Paul Weidlinger (22 December 1914 – 5 September 1999) was a Hungarian

structural engineer Structural engineers analyze, design, plan, and research structural components and structural systems to achieve design goals and ensure the safety and comfort of users or occupants. Their work takes account mainly of safety, technical, economic ...

. Paul was born in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

on December 22, 1914. He attended the

Brno University of Technology Brno University of Technology (abbreviated: ''BUT''; in Czech: Vysoké učení technické v Brně – Czech abbreviation: ''VUT'') is a university located in Brno, Czech Republic. Being founded in 1899 and initially offering a single course ...

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

followed by Swiss Polytechnic Institute, Zurich. After his graduation in 1937 Weidlinger went to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

looking for work. Whilst sitting in his room at 3 Bedford Square reading the telephone directory he came across the name of

László Moholy-Nagy László Moholy-Nagy (; ; born László Weisz; July 20, 1895 – November 24, 1946) was a Hungarian painter and photographer as well as a professor in the Bauhaus school. He was highly influenced by constructivism and a strong advocate of the i ...

. He decided to

cold call Cold calling is the solicitation of business from potential customers who have had no prior contact with the salesperson conducting the call. It is an attempt to convince potential customers to purchase either the salesperson's product or service ...

him and was successful in being taken on as a draftsman. During his stay in London he visited the Paris World Fair and particularly appreciated the Pavilion des Temps Nouveaux, (Pavilion of New Times), a tent pavilion designed by

Le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...

and

Pierre Jeanneret Pierre Jeanneret (22 March 1896 – 4 December 1967) was a Swiss architect who collaborated with his cousin, Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (who assumed the pseudonym Le Corbusier), for about twenty years. Early life Arnold-André-Pierre Jea ...

. From April to August 1938 he was working for Le Corbusier. After leaving Europe in 1939 he worked and taught in

La Paz La Paz (), officially known as Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Spanish pronunciation: ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With an estimated 816,044 residents as of 2020, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities ...

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

. In 1943 he moved on to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

where he started working for

Charles Wohlstetter Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

designing modular aircraft hangars that could be assembled quickly. With Charles' brother

Albert Wohlstetter Albert James Wohlstetter (December 19, 1913 – January 10, 1997) was an American political scientist noted for his influence on U.S. nuclear strategy during the Cold War. He and his wife Roberta Wohlstetter, an accomplished historian and intell ...

and Weidlinger worked at the

United States Housing Authority The United States Housing Authority, or USHA, was a federal agency created during 1937 within the United States Department of the Interior by the Housing Act of 1937 as part of the New Deal. It was designed to lend money to the states or commu ...

applying these modular principles to domestic residential buildings. He started his own practice,

Weidlinger Associates Weidlinger Associates, Inc., was a U.S.-based structural engineering firm that designs and rehabilitates buildings, bridges, and infrastructure and provides special services in applied science, forensics, and physical security. Weidlinger's clien ...

, in 1949. He designed his home, the

Paul and Madeleine Weidlinger House The Paul and Madeleine Weidlinger House, also known simply as the Weidlinger House, is a historic house at 54 Valley Road in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. It is one of a modest number of surviving houses in Wellfleet that combine elements of Modern ...

, in

Wellfleet, Massachusetts Wellfleet is a New England town, town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, and is located halfway between the "tip" and "elbow" of Cape Cod. The town had a population of 3,566 at the 2020 United S ...

. The house was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2014. He and his first wife, Madeleine (nee Freidli, d. mid-1970s), had a son Tom, born c. 1953, and an older daughter.Tom Weidlinger, "Finding a Way Back to a Flawed and Dangerous Mother," https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/03/well/family/finding-a-way-back-to-a-flawed-and-dangerous-mother.html#commentsContainer Paul Weidlinger died in 1999.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weidlinger, Paul 1914 births 1999 deaths American structural engineers 20th-century American engineers Hungarian emigrants to the United States