Ivan Margolius (born 27 February 1947) is an author, architect and propagator of

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

culture and technology.

Life

Margolius was born in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

, son of JUDr Rudolf Margolius, Deputy Minister for Foreign Trade, and Heda Margolius Kovály, Czech writer and translator, both parents being

Holocaust survivors Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and its collaborators before and during World War II in Europe and North Africa. There is no universall ...

. He attended primary and secondary schools there and started to study architecture at the

Czech Technical University in Prague Czech Technical University in Prague (CTU) () is one of the largest universities in the Czech Republic with 8 faculties, and is one of the oldest institutes of technology in Central Europe. It is also the oldest non-military technical universi ...

. Margolius left

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

in 1966 because of political persecution of his family. He settled in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

where he became a

naturalized citizen Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-national of a country acquires the nationality of that country after birth. The definition of naturalization by the International Organization for Migration of the ...

in 1973 and where he completed his architectural studies at the Polytechnic of Central London. He practised architecture at

Yorke Rosenberg Mardall Yorke Rosenberg Mardall (Yorke, Rosenberg and Mardall, YRM) was a British architectural firm established by F. R. S. Yorke (1906-1962), Eugene Rosenberg (1907-1990) and Cyril Mardall (Sjöström) (1909-1994) in 1944.Melvin, Jeremy (1997). Obit ...

Foster and Partners Foster and Partners (also Foster + Partners) is a British international architecture firm with its headquarters in London, England. It was founded in 1967 by British architect and designer Norman Foster. The firm has been involved in the desig ...

, Koetter Kim and Associates and

Skidmore, Owings and Merrill SOM, an initialism of its original name Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, is a Chicago-based architectural, urban planning, and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings. In 1939, they were joined by enginee ...

. Margolius co-operated extensively with Jan Kaplický founder of Future Systems. Margolius is an author of numerous articles and books on art, architecture, automobiles, design and history. Since April 2021 he is a regular contributor to the classic car magazine ''The Automobile''. Alej Obeti Totality Prague Ujezd

In 2016 Margolius suggested to the Prague Council for a street to be named ‘Obětí totality’ (Víctims of totalitarianism) which was realised in February 2018 by naming in such a way the alley adjacent to the Memorial to the Victims of Communism at Újezd, Malá Strana.

Published works

* ''Cubism in Architecture and the Applied Arts'', David & Charles, Newton Abbot & North Vermont 1979, . * ''Tatra – The Legacy of Hans Ledwinka'', SAF Publishing, Harrow 1990, (written with John G Henry) Cugnot Book Award of Distinction 1991. * ''Škoda Laurin & Klement'', Osprey Automotive, London 1992, (written with Charles Meisl) Cugnot Book Award of Distinction 1993. * ''Prague – a guide to 20th century architecture'', Ellipsis, London 1996, . * ''Church of the Sacred Heart, Jože Plečnik, 1922-33'', Architecture in Detail, Phaidon Press, London 1995, . * ''Automobiles by Architects'', Wiley-Academy, London 2000, . * ''Architects + Engineers = Structures'', Wiley-Academy, London 2002, . * ''Future Systems'', Zlatý řez, Prague 2002, , (written with Jan Kaplický, Michaela Kadnerová and Jana Tichá). * ‘Art + Architecture’, ''Architectural Design'', no. 163, vol. 73, no. 3, guest editor, May/June 2003, . * ''Czech Inspiration – Česká inspirace'', , Praha 2005, , (written with Jan Kaplický). * ''Reflections of Prague: Journeys through the 20th century'', John Wiley & Sons, Chichester 2006, . * ''Praha za zrcadlem: Putování 20. stoletím'', Argo, Praha 2007, . * ''Jan Kaplický Drawings'', Circa Press, London 2015, (written with

Richard Rogers Richard George Rogers, Baron Rogers of Riverside (23 July 1933 – 18 December 2021) was a British-Italian architect noted for his modernist and constructivist designs in high-tech architecture. He was the founder at Rogers Stirk Harbour + ...

) International Deutsches Architekturmuseum Architectural Book Award, 2015. * ''Tatra – The Legacy of Hans Ledwinka'', new edition, Veloce Publishing, Dorchester 2015, , (written with John G. Henry, foreword by

Norman Foster Norman Robert Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank (born 1 June 1935) is an English architect. Closely associated with the development of high-tech architecture, Lord Foster is recognised as a key figure in British modernist architecture. Hi ...

and prologue by Erich Ledwinka). * Heda Margolius Kovály and Helena Třeštíková, ''Hitler, Stalin and I: An Oral History'', DoppelHouse Press, Los Angeles 2018 , , prepared for publication and translated by Ivan Margolius. * ''Tatra – Odkaz Hanse Ledwinky'', Argo, Praha 2020, , (Czech edition, written with John G. Henry, foreword by

, and prologue by Erich Ledwinka) * ''Jan Kaplický – Pro budoucnost a pro krásu'', CPress, Brno 2020, . Miroslav Ivanov Prize for Non-fiction Literature 2021. * ''Jan Kaplický - For the Future and For Beauty'', Edition Axel Menges, Stuttgart 2022, . * ''Riflessi di Praga'', Poldi Libri, Granze 2023, . * ''Škoda Laurin & Klement 1856-1991 - značka osvědčená v celém světě'', Argo, Praha 2024, , (written with Charles Meisl).

Awards

* 1991 Cugnot Book Award of Distinction, Society of Automotive Historians. * 1993 Cugnot Book Award of Distinction, Society of Automotive Historians. * 2014 Second Prize, British Czech and Slovak Association International Writing Competition. * 2015 International Deutsches Architekturmuseum Architectural Book Award. * 2017 First Prize, British Czech and Slovak Association International Writing Competition. * 2019 Honorary Silver Medal of Jan Masaryk. * 2021 Miroslav Ivanov Prize for Non-fiction Literature. * 2024 Second Prize, British Czech and Slovak Association International Writing Competition.''The British Czech and Slovak Review'', no. 199, 12 – 1/2024-25, p. 11

References

Literature

* Margolius Kovály, Heda (1997): ''Under A Cruel Star: A Life in Prague 1941-1968'', New York: Holmes & Meier, * Margolius, Ivan (2006): ''Reflections of Prague: Journeys through the 20th Century'', London: Wiley, * Bell, Matthew (2019): 'Auto-Biography - Ivan Margolius', ''The Automobile'', April 2019, Volume 37, Number 2, pp. 34 - 37.

External links