Ernst Wiesner, also known as Arnošt Wiesner (21 January 1890, in Malacky,

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

– 15 July 1971, in

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) was a modernist

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

, one of the foremost interwar period architects of

Brno Brno ( , ; ) is a Statutory city (Czech Republic), city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava (river), Svitava and Svratka (river), Svratka rivers, Brno has about 403,000 inhabitants, making ...

. His ancestors with German surnames Wiesner came from the area of modern Austria. From 1908 to 1913 Wiesner studied at the Technical University of Vienna and Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (taught by Friedrich Ohmann) in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. After

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he worked as an independent architect in the city of

, until 1939. Wiesner was a very active architect in the city between the World Wars. His work was greatly influenced by

Adolf Loos Adolf Franz Karl Viktor Maria Loos (; 10 December 1870 – 23 August 1933) was an Austrian and Czechoslovak architect, influential European theorist, and a polemicist of modern architecture. He was inspired by modernism and a widely-known c ...

and his pure constructions with their classicized balance and monumentality are amongst the best works to be constructed in Brno at that time. With the Third Reich's increasing grip on Czechoslovakia, Wiesner emigrated to

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where he lived for the remainder of his life, and joined the foreign anti-fascist resistance during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. During 1948-1950 he acted as a lecturer in the School of Architecture at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

and during 1950–1960 at the

University of Liverpool The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...

. In 1969 he was nominated to the rank of honorary doctor by the University of Jan Evangelista Purkyně (now

Masaryk University Masaryk University (MU) (; ) is the second largest university in the Czech Republic, a member of the Compostela Group and the Utrecht Network. Founded in 1919 in Brno, it now consists of ten faculties and 35,115 students. It is named after To ...

) in Brno. When he died in 1971 he was buried in Liverpool's Allerton Cemetery.

Architectural works in Brno

* Gutmannův dům (Gutmann's house) 1919–22 * Moravská zemská životní pojišťovna (Moravian Provincial Life Insurance Company) 1920–1923 * Böhmische Union Bank (later seat of local branch of the Czechoslovak Broadcast) 1923–26 * Krematorium (Crematorium) 1926–29 * Vila Stiassni 1927 - 1929 * Palác Morava (Palace Moravia) 1927–29. Completely finished in 1936 * Rodinný dvojdům (Double-family house) 1928 * Moravská banka (Moravian Bank) 1929–30, co-author

Bohuslav Fuchs Bohuslav Fuchs (24 March 1895 – 18 September 1972) was a Czechs, Czech modernist architect. He also worked as a university teacher and urban planner. He is considered one of the most important Czech architects of the 20th century. His work is pr ...

* Činžovní dům Freundschaft (The Freundschaft Friendship"tenement house) 1930–31 * Various family houses, industrial and manufacturing buildings around the City of Brno

References

Sources

* *Ernst Wiesner 1890 - 1971, Obecní dům Brno 2005, *http://www.bam.brno.cz/en/architect/32-ernst-wiesner?filter=code {{DEFAULTSORT:Wiesner Czechoslovak architects Czech architects 20th-century Czech architects Modernist architects from Austria Masaryk University alumni 1890 births 1971 deaths People from Malacky Czechoslovak emigrants to England British people of Slovak-Jewish descent Jewish architects Czechoslovak Jews