Adolf Loos, work and theory. Compiled in 2007.

1. ADO LF L OO S
O R N A ME N T IS C R I M E .

2. 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.
Louis Sullivan 1896
Prudential Building, Buffalo NY

3. VIENNESE CONTEXT:THE SECESSION
Joseph Maria Olbrich 1897
Secession Haus,Vienna
Gustav Klimt 1907
“Adele Bloch-Bauer's Portrait”
Otto Wagner 1899
Majolica Haus,Vienna

4. ORNAMENT AND CRIME
“The evolution of culture marches with
.
the elimination of ornament from useful
objects.”
Josiah McElheny 2002
“Adolf Loos’ Ornament and Crime”

5. STYLE: FURNISHINGS
Turnovsky chair 1898
Café Capua chair 1913
Tripod stool 1905

6. STYLE: FURNISHINGS
Löwenbach toilet table 1913
Schmidt cabinet 1901
Hoffstäter Sideboard 1903

7. STYLE: FURNISHINGS
Hoffstäter walnut side
tables 1910
Turnovsky folding table 1898
Woka lamp 1910
Wall clock 1920

8. CAFÉ MUSEUM: CAFÉ NIHILISM?
Chair for Café Museum
1899
Café Museum 1899

9. LOOSHAUS: FURTHER SCANDAL!
EMPEROR ENRAGED!
Michaelerhaus/ Looshaus/ The Goldman & Salatsch Building 1909-1911

10. EMPEROR ENRAGED!

11. Steiner House,Vienna 1910
RAUMPLAN:

12. CHICAGO TRIBUNE TOWER
The winning
design, by
Raymond Hood
and John Mead
Howells
Loos’ entry for Chicago Tribune
competition, 1920

13. Villa Müller, Prague
1930
VILLA MÜLLER: RAUMPLAN REALIZED

16. LOOS CHAISE, 1930

20. Dining room, Villa Müller
Prague, 1930

21. 1870-1933

22. references:
Adolf Loos Study and Documentation Center, Müller Villa homepage. http://
www.mullerovavila.cz/default-av.html. Accessed 1.29.2007.
Fiell, Charlotte & Peter. 1000 Chairs. Taschen America Llc., New York. 1998.
Galinsky, Villa Müller, Prague by Adolf Loos. http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/villamueller/
index.htm. Accessed 1.29.2007.
Loos, Adolf. Ornament and Crime: Selected Essays, ed. Adolf Opel, trans. Michael Mitchell.
Riverside, Calif.: Ariadne Press. 1998.
Oechslin, W. Otto Wagner, Adolf Loos, and the Road to Modern Architecture. Trans. Lynette Widder.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2002.
Modernista, Adolf Loos. http://www.modernista.cz/english/ma_loos.html. Accessed 1.29.2007.
Wise, Michael Z. “From Modernism to Communism and Back: An Adolf Loos masterpiece
reopens in Prague”. The New York Times, 1.4.2001.

23. ADOLF LOOS: ORNAMENT IS CRIME.
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 quot;Ornament and Crime,quot; 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.
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.