The Studio yearbook of decorative art (1914)

AUSTRIAN ARCHITECTURE AND
DECORATION. By A. S. Levetus
IHE past year has proved a favourable one for Austrian

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Architecture and Decoration, for much good work has been
done. The Women’s Horticultural College, designed by
Professor Josef Hoffmann, is now finished. It is situated in
Grinzing, one of the most beautiful suburbs of Vienna, and
harmonises well with the surrounding hilly scenery. Professor
Hoffmann has also designed and built a workman’s colony, which
marks a new development in this eminent architect’s career. Many
other distinguished architects have been kept busily employed, among
them Hoppe, Kammerer and Schonthal, Professor Otto Prutscher,
Professor Carl Witzmann, Professor Strnad and Dr. Frank, Theiss
and Jaksch, and Baron Krauss. Arnold Goldberger, who has made a
special study of workmen’s colonies, has designed and erected one at
Budweis, and he is about to build another at Fishamend, a small
town near Vienna, on the banks of the Danube. These colonies are
remarkable for the refinement of the designs and their practicability.
In Prague, Professor Kotera is responsible for many buildings
as, also, is Professor Plechnic. Dusan Jurkovic has built a charming
villa in Prague, which he has furnished and decorated on lines which
are quite his own. Another Czech architect, Valentin Hrdlicka,
has likewise built in Briinn, Moravia, some dwellings which show
individuality in feeling. Gottfried Czermak has designed several
villas which he has characteristically decorated and furnished. His
work is remarkable for the rich colour effects he achieves. Paul
Roller, another architect of note, has been successful in planning houses
which have their own personal tone.
An architect of distinction, who should not be overlooked, is
Phillip Hausler. He is now engaged in superintending the Austrian
Pavilion at the Cologne exhibition to be held this year. It has been
designed by Professor Josef Hoffmann, whose pupil Hausler is.
Hausler has done some good work which is distinctive in thought
and treatment. Some interiors designed by him are reproduced on
page 180. Professor Otto Prutscher is another architect-decorator
whose work is marked by strong originality of a very refined type.
That which is here reproduced (pages 182 to 185) shows his line of
thought, which is reticent, artistic and eminently to the purpose.
His gardens are singularly happy in design and in the colour schemes.
Professors Dr. Oskar Strnad, Dr. Oskar Wlach and Dr. Frank are also
architects of marked individuality, whose joint work is full of vitality
and decorative feeling. Indeed all these men of the modern school
give a certain individual touch to their work, whether it be in
architecture or decoration. This trait is also present in the work of
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