Ernst Wiesner, also known as Arnošt Wiesner (21 January 1890, in

Malacky Malacky (German: ''Malatzka'', Hungarian: ''Malacka'') is a town and municipality in western Slovakia around north from capital Bratislava. From the second half of the 10th century until 1918, it was part of the Kingdom of Hungary. It is one of ...

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephe ...

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with t ...

– 15 July 1971, in

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

) was a modernist

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

, one of the foremost interwar period architects of Brno. His ancestors with German surnames Wiesner came from the area of modern Austria. From 1908 to 1913 Wiesner studied at the

Technical College and the Academy of Arts Technical may refer to: * Technical (vehicle), an improvised fighting vehicle * Technical analysis, a discipline for forecasting the future direction of prices through the study of past market data * Technical drawing, showing how something is co ...

(taught by B. Ohmann) in

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. After

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

he worked as an independent architect in the city of Brno, until 1939. Wiesner was a very active architect in the city between the World Wars. His work was greatly influenced by

Adolf Loos Adolf Franz Karl Viktor Maria Loos (; 10 December 1870 – 23 August 1933) was an Austrian and Czechoslovak architect, influential European theorist, and a polemicist of modern architecture. He was an inspiration to Modern architecture, mod ...

and his pure constructions with their classicized balance and monumentality are amongst the best works to be constructed in Brno at that time. Afterwards Wiesner emigrated to

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

where he joins the foreign anti-fascist resistance. After

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he stayed in Britain. During 1948-1950 he acted as a lecturer in the School of Architecture at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...

and during 1950–1960 at the

University of Liverpool , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

. In 1969 he was nominated to the rank of honorary doctor by the University of Jan Evangelista Purkyně (now

Masaryk University Masaryk University (MU) ( cs, Masarykova univerzita; la, Universitas Masarykiana Brunensis) is the second largest university in the Czech Republic, a member of the Compostela Group and the Utrecht Network. Founded in 1919 in Brno as the sec ...

) in Brno. When he died in 1971 he was buried in Liverpool's

Allerton Cemetery Allerton Cemetery is a cemetery in Allerton, Liverpool, England. The cemetery, of , is one of the main burial sites for the Metropolitan Borough of Liverpool and is Grade II listed. Springwood Crematorium is situated opposite the cemetery on Sp ...

Architectural works in Brno

* Gutmannův dům (Gutmann's house) 1919–22 * Moravská zemská životní pojišťovna (Moravian Provincial Life Insurance Company) 1920–1923 * Česká banka Union (Czech Union Bank; later seat of local branch of the Czechoslovak Broadcast) 1923–26 * Krematorium (Crematorium) 1926–29 * Vila Stiassni 1927 - 1929 * Palác Morava (Palace Moravia) 1927–29. Completely finished in 1936 * Rodinný dvojdům (Double-family house) 1928 * Moravská banka (Moravian Bank) 1929–30, co-author

Bohuslav Fuchs Bohuslav Fuchs (24 March 1895 in Všechovice – 18 September 1972 in Brno) was a Czech modernist architect. Life and career A mason by education, Fuchs studied with Jan Kotěra at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague between 1916 and 1919, and t ...

* Činžovní dům Freundschaft (The Freundschaft Friendship"tenement house) 1930–31 * Various family houses, industrial and manufacturing buildings around the City of Brno

References

Sources

* *Ernst Wiesner 1890 - 1971, Obecní dům Brno 2005, *http://www.bam.brno.cz/en/architect/32-ernst-wiesner?filter=code {{DEFAULTSORT:Wiesner 1890 births 1971 deaths People from Malacky Czechoslovak emigrants to England British people of Slovak-Jewish descent Modernist architects Czechoslovak architects Masaryk University alumni