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Adolf Franz Karl Viktor Maria Loos was born on 10th December 1870 in Brno (Brünn) in the region Moravia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Through his writings, he became on of the most important and influential European theorists of Modern architecture. His attitude was in opposition to the
historism and the Vienna Secession. He wrote several plemical works, with his famous essay 'Ornament and Crime' Adolf Loos advocated smooth and clear surfaces.
Based on his theoretacal and built work, Adolf Loos is considered to be one of the most important pioneers of modern architecture.
In the Year 1893, at the age of 23, Adolf Loos traveled to the United States, where he stayed for three years. He lived maily with realtives in the area of Philadelphia.
Of course he also visited other cities such as Chicago, St. Louis and New York. In 1896 Adolf Loos returned to Loos Vienna and made it his permanent residence.
He was a prominent figure in the city and a friend of Ludwig Wittgenstein, Arnold Schönberg, Peter Altenberg and Karl Kraus. Loos was very impressed by the New World ,
and considered it to be superior. Insbired by the United States he decided to devote himself to architecture.
The early Works by Adolf Loos were interior designs for apartments, shops and cafés in Vienna. The so-called "Loos-House" is considered to be his breakthrough in architecture.
Customer for the building on Michaelerplatz in Vienna was the Viennese tailor Goldman and Salatsch, for whom Loos had designed a store interior in 1898. The building was much
criticized by his contemporaries, because of the lack of decoration. The facade is dominated by rectilinear window patterns, which was to bare for its time. As a consequence
of public pressure, there were added flower-boxes under the windows. Today the building is under monument preservation.
Adolf Loos sufferd from poor health over his lifetime. On August 23 1933 he died in Kalksburg near Vienna, in the age of only 62 years.
1909 - 1911 House on Michaelerplatz
1909 - 1912 Manz Bookshop
1910 Steiner House - Vienna
1910 - 1913 Knize Tailor Salon - Vienna
1912 Horner House - Vienna
1912 - 1913 Scheu House
1922 Rufer House - Vienna
1930 - 1932 Semi-detached House in Werkbund Settlement