Born on September 10, 1887, to Rudolf Israel Schlesinger (1859-1940) and Franziska Hertl Schlesinger (1859-1952) ((Sweeney and Scheine 2012 p7; Steele 2005 p91 also shows a September 10th birthdate)
[McCoy 1960 p151, Gebhard 1972 p13, and Gebhard and Gebhard 1997 p14 show his birth as September 5th; however, Sweeney and Scheine 2012 p7 appears to be the most robust source, having laid eyes on the original birth certificate (and finding that his birth name wasn't Schindler).]
His father married his mother, Maria Hertl, in the 1880s (McCoy 1960 p151)
[disagreement on the name of his mother; however, Sweeney and Scheine 2012 is the more definitive source]
His parents were married in February 1887 (Sweeney and Scheine 2012 p7)
Rudolf was Jewish; Franziska was Catholic, although Rudolf converted to Catholicism a week before their marriage (Sweeney and Scheine 2012 p7)
His father was from Prague and went to Vienna to become a craftsman in wood and metal (McCoy 1960 p151)
His father spent a year in New York and then went into the import business on his return to Vienna (McCoy 1960 p151)
His father spent 10 months in American in 1880 and 1881 (Sweeney and Scheine 2012 p7)
His mother was a milliner (hatmaker) and was awarded the Austrian Golden Cross of Merit for her services to the trade (McCoy 1960 p151)
His mother was Viennese and had a millinery shop on Mariahilferstrasse in Vienna for many years (Sweeney and Scheine 2012 p7)
“His parents were Viennese bourgeois.” (Gebhard 1972 p13)
He had one sister (Gebhard 1972 p13)
Schindler was interested in drawing as a child (McCoy 1960 p151)
Schindler's pre-college grades were rarely above average except in geometry and freehand drawing (Sweeney and Scheine 2012 p7)
Schindler's surname was originally Schlesinger; his family officially changed their name to Schindler in 1904 (Warren 2011 p337)
The family changed their name in 1901 (Sweeney and Scheine 2012 p7) [Because Warren 2011 was referring to Sweeney's work, Sweeney and Scheine 2012 is the more credible source]
The reason for the name change is unknown (Sweeney and Scheine 2012 p8)
1895
Otto Wagner publishes Moderne Architektur
Schindler begins studying construction engineering at the k.k. Technical University in Vienna. (Steele 2005 p91)
Enters the k.k. Technische Hochschule; Carl König was the dominant personality (Sweeney and Scheine 2012 p8)
Enters the Imperial Institute of Engineering in 1906 at the age of 19 (Gebhard 1972 p13)
[disagreement on the name of the technical university he attended; according to the university, its name changed to College of Technology in 1872 and had that name at the time Schindler attended]
1910
Frank Lloyd Wright publishes his two-volume Wasmuth Portfolio in Berlin.
Schindler sketch c1910 (via March and Scheine 1995 p51)
Schindler sketch c1910 (via March and Scheine 1995 p51)
Schindler sketch c1910 (via March and Scheine 1995 p51)
c1910: Project for a church
As noted in March and Scheine (1995 p51)
(via March and Scheine 1995 p51)
1910-3
Studies architecture under Otto Wagner in the three-year program at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts from 1910–3 (Steele 2005 p91)
Begins study under Otto Wagner in October 2010 (Sweeney and Scheine 2012 p8)
Otto Wagner c1910
Attends drawing classes at the Palette and Chisel Club while in college (Gebhard 1972 p23)
1911
Receives his diploma from the k.k. Technical University [College of Technology] in Vienna. (Steele 2005 p91)
Receives his diploma in engineering (McCoy 1960 p152)
His main project at the Fine Art Academy Vienna was a crematorium and chapel for a city of five million (McCoy 1960 p. 152)
Schindler: "In the summer of 1911, sitting in one of the earthbound peasant cottages on top of a mountain pass in Styria, a sudden realisation of the meaning of space in architecture came to me." (Schindler 1935a)
Schindler: "Shortly after my revelation in the mountains a librarian in Vienna handed me a portfolio—the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. Immediately I realised that—here was a man who had taken hold of this new medium. Here was 'space architecture'... Here was the first architect." (Schindler 1935a)
1911-4
Works for Hans Mayr and Theodore Mayer in Vienna (Steele 2005 p91)
Works for Hans Mayr and Theodor M. Mayer from September 11, 1911, to February 14, 1914 (Gebhard 1972 p13)
1912
Adolf Loos starts his school in Vienna in 1912 (Steele 2005)
1912: Schindler in Vienna
Esther McCoy archives at the Smithsonian
1912: Schindler: Modern Architecture—A Program
According to Schindler, originally written in 1912 in Vienna.
Earliest existing version written in German is dated June 1913 (Mallgrave 1993 p15)
Schindler translated it to English in 1932 and sent it to M Koyama of Kokusai Kenchiku under the title "Modern Architecture: A Program" (Mallgrave 1993 p15)
Schindler's own translation is in Gebhard (1980 p191-2)
"Schindler's programme is a direct reference to Wright's architecture, as the Schindler-Neutra correspondence confirms." (Sarnitz 1995 p80)
"Fragmentary as they may have been, the ideas that the young Schindler presented were strikingly original." (de Michelis 2005 p2)
The following independent translation, from March and Scheine (1995 p 10-2), is from Schindler's earliest original manuscript dated 1913. Schindler's later translations modified the text, so this is the closest to his original thoughts, at least as expressed in his 1913 version.
[When Schindler refers to 'space', he's referring to the voids between the walls, floors, and ceilings (but he's also referring to outdoor space as well, especially in how indoor and outdoor space relate to each other); he's referring to spatial architecture. He's right, of course: we live between the solid surfaces among us. This emphasis on space is why he was so focused on how people related to his architecture and why he was willing to compromise external aesthetics in support of living. It was also why he was so accommodating of changing his architecture: if the spatial needs changed, then the architecture needed to change to reflect the new spatial needs.]
I
The cave was the original dwelling.
A hollow adobe pile was the first permanent house.
To build meant—to gather and mass material
around empty cells for air-living-rooms.
This conception explains all architectural creation
from the beginning of time up to the twentieth century.
The aim of architectural effort was the
formal conquest of material-mass.
The only idea was plastically shaped material-mass.
The vault was not a spatial conception but a
material formwork supporting supporting the suspended mass.
The decoration was intended to shape the mass
rather than the atmosphere.
The problem has been solved and is dead.
We no longer have have plastically shaped material-mass.
The modern architect conceives the room
and forms it with wall—and ceiling—slabs.
The only idea is space and its organization.
Lacking material-mass, the negative interior
space appears appears positively on the exterior of the house.
Thus the 'box-shaped house' has appeared as
the primitive form of the new line of development.
A new problem has been born—
and the idea of function, as always, watched over the birth.
II
The first house was a shelter for man.
The feeling of security was enhanced by every
reference to the stability of the house.
Thus the architect's most effective means
of expression was the building's construction.
All architectural styles up to the twentieth century
were constructed.
The effort to symbolize the construction function
of the material-mass suggested ideas for form.
The final step in this development was the
artistically conceived steel skeleton;
in a framework the form no longer symbolizes
the constructional play of forces;
the construction itself becomes form.
By introducing concrete construction, the twentieth century
took the first step to disregard construction formally.
The constructural problem has been reduced to a mathematical equation.
The structural equations required by municipal code officials
make the formal guarantee of stability superfluous.
Construction has lost its interest.
Modern man no longer pays attention to construction—
the concrete piers, the beams, the mass of the wall;
for there is neither a column nor architrav,
nor wall plinth, nor crowning cornice.
He sees the freedom of the cantilever, the openness of the span,
the space-forming surfaces if the large partition walls.
The residential artist's attempt to make form
a symbol of construction or to give construction
an artistically expressive form is dead.
There are no more constructional styles.
The architect's instinct 'to build constructionally'
has become a hollow slogan in an age that wants to give
its artists the strangely necessary exhortation: Build with all
the mental and technical resources that your culture offers you.
III
Monumentality is the mark of power.
The first ruler was the tyrant.
He power over the human masses was expressed
in the physical conquest of static forces.
The power symbols of primitive culture and perception
were confined to overcoming the two simplest forces:
gravity and cohesion.
The monumental effect grew proportionally with
the 'work of material displacement'' expressed.
Man cowers before the weight of the earth.
Today a different power of man
demands its monument.
The mind's creative power has
broken the tyrant's power.
Man has found a more mature symbol
for the conquest of physical forces—the machine.
The mathematical conquest of statics makes the
structure's formal and artistic expression meaningless.
The new monumentality of space will presage
the limitless power of the human mind.
Man trembles at the expanse
of the universe.
IV
For man the value of his cave lay in its
seclusion and confinement, in the feeling
of security it gave the occupant.
The medieval city presented as its building principle
the same feeling of security; it crowded the largest number
of defenders into the smallest possible circumference.
The peasant only feels comfortable in a hut that
cares for his need of protection from the elements
by the strongest contrast with the world outside,
in rooms whose formal elements are able evoke
recollections of this feeling of security.
The modern dwelling should not express style or personality;
it should provide a quiet environment for the occupant.
It should no longer bellow like an eternal gramophone
for every short hour of the architect and occupant.
The majority think it should be silent, 'comfortable' and 'homey'.
The civilised man has progressed from a
fear of the elements to its domination.
His home is no longer a timid retreat;
his power has allowed him to return to nature.
The words "comfortable" and "homey" have changed their meaning.
The comfort of the dwelling no longer resides in its
in its formal development, but in the possibility of controlling
within its confines light, air, and temperature.
1912: Clubhouse for actors (6 Dorotheergasse, Vienna, Austria, for Mayr and Mayer; built; still exists)
As noted in Steele (1985 p91)
"...it seems evident that this design reflects the intentions of his employer more than his own intentions, and therefore this should not be considered with the other Schindler projects." (Sarnitz 1993 p37)
published in Der Architect (1912)
from Gebhard (1972 p20)
1912: Project for Hotel Rong
Class project (Gebhard 1972 p15 Gebhard 1993c xvii)
The basic forms resemble one of Wagner's apartment houses but uses modular paneling and has no ornamentation (Sarnitz 1993 p30)
from Gebhard (1972 p15)
from Gebhard (1993a)
1912: Project for a hunting lodge (Vienna, Austria)
As noted in (Gebhard 1972 p14 Gebhard 1993c xvii)
(via March and Sheine 1995 p31)
from Gebhard (1993c)
c1912: Project for a rental apartment, cornmarket (Vienna, Austria)
As noted in March and Scheine (1995 p48)
(via March and Scheine 1995 p48)
1912-3: Project for a crematorium and chapel (Vienna, Austria)
Class project
“...a wild mixture of visual ideas.” (Gebhard 1972 p16 Gebhard 1993c xvii)
“The low single-storey buildings located along the outer edges of four spokes of the roads, with their groups of windows placed directly under roof slabs, anticipated not only the qualities of the International Style, but specifically such projects as Schindler’s own Korsen Court of 1921. (They also bear a remarkable similarity to Neutra’s work of the thirties.)” (Gebhard 1972 p17)
"The marked patterns of both the structure and construction of the [crematorium and chapel] resemble Schindler's work in the 1920s, particularly the Pueblo Ribera Court (1923-1925) and the How house (1925)." (Scheine 1998 p46)
from Gebhard (1972 p16)
from Gebhard (1972 p19)
Attends Adolf Loos' independent school of architecture (Steele 2005 p91)
A professor at the Vienna Polytechnic, Carl Konig, once posted a notice that forbid his students from attending Loos' school (Long 2001 p24)
"...so-called 'Bauschule' of Adolf Loos." (Sarnitz 1995 p78)
Both Schindler and Neutra were excited about America, through Frank Lloyd Wright's Wasmuth Portfolio published in 1910 and from Adolf Loos (McCoy 1960 p152) [Did Schindler's father also influence his interest in America?]
Befriends Richard Neutra at Loos' school (Steele 2005 p91)
Schindler meets Richard Neutra at a student show where Neutra was inspecting Schindler's crematorium design (McCoy 1960 p152)
Schindler was five years older than Neutra (Scheine 1998 p11)
[disagreement on how he meets Neutra]
Schindler: "[Neutra] was the first to understand exactly what I was after." (McCoy 1960 p152)
1914
Schindler graduates from the Academy in June 1914 (McCoy 1960 p153)
Adolf Loos encourages Schindler to go to America (Gebhard 1972 p19)
With Adolf Loos’ encouragement, Schindler applies to Ottenheimer, Stern, and Reichel (Gebhard 1972 p21)
Schindler responds to an advertisement in a Viennese architectural journal to work for Ottenheimer, Stern, and Reichel of Chicago as a draftsman (McCoy 1960 p153)
Ottenheimer, Stern, and Reichel pay for his ticket to Chicago (McCoy 1960 p153)
Schindler’s plan: Finish his contract with Ottenheimer, Stern, and Reichel; work for Wright for a year or two; travel as much as he can; and then return to Vienna to work for Adolf Loos (Gebhard 1972 p21)
Sails for America in June 1914 (Gebhard 1972 p21)
Leaves Vienna in early 1914 when he was 26 (Steele 2005)
Resigns from Mayr and Mayer on February 10th and sets sail for America on February 26 aboard the Kaiersen Auguste Victoria, four months before the assassination of Franz Ferdinand (Sweeney and Scheine 2012 p10)
[apparent disagreement on when Schindler sails for America; Sweeney and Scheine is the most credible source]
1914: Project for a summer house (near Vienna, Austria)
As noted by Gebhard (1972 p196 Gebhard 1993c xvii)
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