Adolf Loos, 1870 -1933
Loos in 1930, portrait by Oskar Kokoschka, 1909

BIRTH, EDUCATION & EARLY INFLUENCES
1870 Born in the Czech Republic to German parents, a
sculptor and stonemason.
1880 - 1893 Attends series of Austrian and Czech technical
colleges, including architecture at Dresden Technical
University.
1893 - 1896 Travels and works as a mason and floor-layer in
the U.S., where he becomes enamored with the efficiency of
American architecture. In particular, he comes to admire the
work of Louis Sullivan, whose aesthetic was based on the
premise that form should follow function.
1897 First solo design at Ebenstein Couturier,
beginning of theoretical and critical activity.

His essay Ornament and Crime advocated smooth and
clear surfaces in contrast to the lavish decorations
of the Fin de siècle and also to the more modern
aesthetic principles of the Vienna Secession.
Loos became a pioneer of modern architecture and
contributed a body of theory and criticism of
Modernism in architecture and design.
Essay on Ornament and Crime:
Adolf Loos 1928

Evolution is synonymous with the removal of ornament from
objects of everyday use .
Loos's essay, "passion for smooth and precious surfaces"he
explains his philosophy, describing how ornamentation can
have the effect of causing objects to go out of style and thus
become obsolete.
It struck him that it was a crime to waste the effort needed to
add ornamentation, when the ornamentation would cause the
object to soon go out of style.

Loos introduced a sense of the "immorality" of ornament,
describing it as "degenerate", its suppression as
necessary for regulating modern society.
He took as one of his examples the tattooing of the
"Papuan" and the intense surface decorations of the
objects about him—Loos says that, in the eyes of western
culture, the Papuan has not evolved to the moral and
civilized circumstances of modern man, who, should he
tattoo himself, would either be considered a criminal
or a degenerate.
Loos concluded that "No ornament can any longer be made
today by anyone who lives on our cultural level ...
Freedom from ornament is a sign of spiritual strength“.

The essay was written when Art Nouveau, which Loos had
excoriated even at its height in 1900, was about to show a new
way of modern art.
The essay is important in articulating some moralizing views,
inherited from the Arts and Crafts movement, which would be
fundamental to the Bauhaus design studio and would help define
the ideology of Modernism in architecture.

1870 Born in the Czech Republic to German parents, a sculptor
and stonemason.
1880-90 Attended a series of technical colleges in Austria and the
Czech Republic.
1892-93 Studied architecture at Dresden Technical University.
1893-96 Traveled and studied Chicago, St Louis, Philadelphia,
New York, London and Paris before returning to Vienna.
1897 First solo design at Ebenstein couturierie, beginning of
theoretical and critical activity. 1898 Café Museum in Vienna;
referred to as “Café Nihilism” by critics.

1908 Published "Ornament and Crime," a legendary diatribe against
adornment in design.
1910 Looshaus, Vienna; Goldmann & Salatsch department store in
stark modern style built across the street from the Hofburg Imperial
Palace in Vienna; great scandal, Austrian emperor enraged.
1910 Steiner House, Vienna; Raumplan concept of terraced rooms
first employed.
1922 Notorious submission to Chicago Tribune contest; his proposed
tower is a giant Doric column.

1928 Loos was disgraced by a pedophilia scandal in
Vienna.He was found partially guilty in a court decision of
1928.In 2008 the original case record was rediscovered and
confirmed the accusation.
1930 Villa Müller, Prague, 1930; Loos considered this the final
realization of his anti-ornamental aesthetic and Raumplan
1933 Died at the Kalkoburg Sanatorium near Vienna.
2001 Villa Müller, painstakingly restored, opens to the public
as a museum dedicated to the life and work of Adolf Loos.

Early work: Café Museum, Vienna, 1898-99

Early work: Villa Karma, Switzerland and
K-bar, or American Bar, Vienna
l: Villa Karma, Switzerland, 1904-6; r: American Bar, Vienna, 1907

Haus am Michaelerplatz,
Vienna, Austria 1910-11

LoosHaus am Michaelerplatz (façade detail)

LoosHaus am Michaelerplatz (interior detail)

Steiner Haus, Vienna, 1910
Front elevation (above)
Garden façade (below)

Chicago Tribune
competition,1922

Josephine Baker House model (never built)

Tristen Tzara Haus, Paris, 1926-27

Müller Villa, Prague, 1930

Müller Villa, interior, 1930

Müller Villa, interior, 1930

Müller Villa, 1930, roof view

Adolf Loos furniture
Elephant trunk table, c. 1902
Haberfeld table, c.1900

Adolf Loos furniture

Adolf Loos designs
Crystal service, c. 1930
Lighting

Scheu Haus, Vienna, by Adolf Loos,
1912-14
computer models by Whitney Smithers, 1994

Ludwig Wittgenstein, 1889-1951

Wittgenstein House, Vienna,1926-28

Wittgenstein House,
Vienna, 1926-28