Richard Joseph Neutra ( ; 8 April 1892 – 16 April 1970) was an Austrian-American

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 ...

. Living and building for most of his career in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

, he came to be considered a prominent and important

modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

architect. His most notable works include the Kaufmann Desert House, in

Palm Springs, California Palm Springs (Cahuilla language, Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Rivers ...

Biography

Neutra was born in Leopoldstadt, the second district of

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

Austria Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

, on 8 April 1892, into a wealthy

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family. His Jewish-Hungarian father Samuel Neutra (1844–1920), was a proprietor of a metal foundry, and his mother, Elizabeth "Betty" Glaser Neutra (1851–1905) was a member of the IKG Wien. Richard had two brothers, who also emigrated to the United States, and a sister, Josephine Theresia "Pepi" Weixlgärtner, an artist who married the Austrian art historian

Arpad Weixlgärtner Arpad Weixlgärtner (6 April 1872 – 2 February 1961) was an Austrian art historian. Early life and education Weixlgärtner was born on 6 April 1872 in Vienna in an artistic family; his father a Hungarian count and his grandfather a Landscape ...

and who later emigrated to Sweden. Her work can be seen at the Modern Art Museum in Stockholm. Neutra attended the Sophiengymnasium in Vienna until 1910. He studied under

Max Fabiani Maximilian Fabiani, commonly known as Max Fabiani (, ) (29 April 1865 – 12 August 1962) was an Italians, Italian architect, born in the village of Kobdilj near Štanjel on the Karst Plateau, County of Gorizia and Gradisca, in present-day Sl ...

and Karl Mayreder at the

Vienna University of Technology TU Wien () is a public research university in Vienna, Austria. The university's teaching and research are focused on engineering, computer science, and natural sciences. It currently has about 28,100 students (29% women), eight faculties, and ...

(1910–18) and also attended the private architecture school of

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 inspired by modernism and a widely-known c ...

. In 1912, he undertook a study trip to Italy and the Balkans with Ernst Ludwig Freud (son of

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( ; ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies seen as originating fro ...

). In June 1914, Neutra's studies were interrupted when he was ordered to

Trebinje Trebinje ( sr-Cyrl, Требиње, ) is a city and municipality in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the southernmost city in Bosnia and Herzegovina and is situated on the banks of the Trebišnjica river in the region of East Her ...

, where he served as a lieutenant in the artillery until the end of World War I. Dione Neutra recalled her husband Richard's hatred of the retribution against the

Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian Cultural heritage, ancestry, Culture of Serbia, culture, History of Serbia, history, and Serbian lan ...

in an interview conducted in 1978 after his death: "He talked about the people he met .e. in Trebinje… how his commander was a sadist, who was able to play out his sadistic tendencies…. He was just a small town clerk in Vienna, but then he became his commander." Neutra took a leave in 1917 to return to the Technische Hochschule to take his final examinations. After World War I, Neutra moved to Switzerland, where he worked with the landscape architect Gustav Ammann. In 1921, he served briefly as city architect in the German town of

Luckenwalde Luckenwalde (; Upper Sorbian language, Upper and , , ) is the capital of the Teltow-Fläming district in the state of Brandenburg in eastern Germany. It is situated on the Nuthe river north of the Fläming Heath, at the eastern rim of the Nuthe-Ni ...

, and later in the same year he joined the office of

Erich Mendelsohn Erich Mendelsohn (); 21 March 1887 – 15 September 1953) was a German-British architect, known for his expressionist architecture in the 1920s, as well as for developing a dynamic functionalism in his projects for department stores and cinem ...

in Berlin. Neutra contributed to the firm's competition entry for a new commercial center for Haifa, Palestine (1922), and to the Zehlendorf housing project in Berlin (1923). He married Dione Niedermann, the daughter of an architect, in 1922. They had three sons, Frank L (1924–2008), Dion (1926–2019), who became an architect and his father's partner, and Raymond Richard Neutra (1939–), a physician and environmental epidemiologist. Richard Neutra moved to the United States by 1923 and 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 1929. He worked briefly for

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright Sr. (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed List of Frank Lloyd Wright works, more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key ...

before accepting an invitation from Rudolf Schindler, a close friend from his university days, to work and live communally in Schindler's Kings Road House in California. Neutra's first works in California were both in the realm of landscape architecture: namely, the grounds of the Lovell Beach House (1922–25), in Newport Beach, which Schindler had designed for Philip Lovell; and a pergola and wading pool for the complex that Wright and Schindler had designed for Aline Barnsdall on Olive Hill (1925), in Hollywood. Schindler and Neutra would go on to collaborate on an entry for the

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

Competition (1926–27); in the same year, they formed a firm with the planner Carol Aronovici (1881–1957), called the Architectural Group for Industry and Commerce (AGIC). Neutra subsequently developed his own practice and went on to design numerous buildings embodying the International Style, 12 of which are designated as Historic Cultural Monuments (HCM), including the Lovell Health House (HCM #123; 1929), for the same client as the Lovell Beach House, and the Richard and Dion Neutra VDL Research House (HCM #640; 1966). In California, he became celebrated for rigorously geometric but airy structures that epitomized a West Coast version of

mid-century modern Mid-century modern (MCM) is a movement in interior design, product design, graphic design, architecture and urban development that was present in all the world, but more popular in North America, Brazil and Europe from roughly 1945 to 197 ...

residential design. His clients included Edgar J. Kaufmann, (who had commissioned Wright to design

Fallingwater Fallingwater is a Historic house museum, house museum in Stewart Township, Pennsylvania, Stewart Township in the Laurel Highlands of Greater Pittsburgh, southwestern Pennsylvania, United States. Designed by the architect Frank Lloyd Wright, i ...

, in Pennsylvania),

Galka Scheyer Galka Scheyer (born Emilie Esther Scheyer; 15 April 1889, Braunschweig – 13 December 1945, Los Angeles) was a German-American painter, art dealer, art collector, and teacher. She was the founder of the "Blue Four," an artists' group that consi ...

, and

Walter Conrad Arensberg Walter Conrad Arensberg (April 4, 1878 – January 29, 1954) was an American art collector, critic and poet. His father was part owner and president of a crucible steel company. He majored in English and philosophy at Harvard University. With his w ...

. In the early 1930s, Neutra's Los Angeles practice trained several young architects who went on to independent success, including

Gregory Ain Gregory Samuel Ain (March 28, 1908 – January 9, 1988) was an American architect active in the mid-20th century. Working primarily in the Los Angeles area, Ain is best known for bringing elements of modern architecture to lower- and medium- ...

, Harwell Hamilton Harris, and

Raphael Soriano Raphael S. Soriano, FAIA, (August 1, 1904 – July 21, 1988) was a Greek-born American architect and educator, who helped define a period of 20th-century architecture that came to be known as Mid-century modern. He pioneered the use of modu ...

. In 1932, he tried to move to the Soviet Union, to help design workers' housing that could be easily constructed, as a means of helping with the housing shortage. In 1932, Neutra was included in the seminal

MoMA The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

exhibition on modern architecture, curated by

Philip Johnson Philip Cortelyou Johnson (July 8, 1906 – January 25, 2005) was an American architect who designed modern and postmodern architecture. Among his best-known designs are his modernist Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut; the postmodern 550 ...

and

Henry-Russell Hitchcock Henry-Russell Hitchcock (June 3, 1903 – February 19, 1987) was an American architectural historian, and for many years a professor at Smith College and New York University. His writings helped to define the characteristics of modernist architec ...

. From 1943 to 1944, Neutra served as a visiting professor of design at Bennington College in Bennington, Vermont. In 1949 Neutra formed a partnership with Robert E. Alexander that lasted until 1958, which finally gave him the opportunity to design larger commercial and institutional buildings. In 1955, the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy of the United State ...

commissioned Neutra to design a new embassy in Karachi. Neutra's appointment was part of an ambitious program of architectural commissions to renowned architects, which included embassies by

Walter Gropius Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (; 18 May 1883 – 5 July 1969) was a German-born American architect and founder of the Bauhaus, Bauhaus School, who is widely regarded as one of the pioneering masters of modernist architecture. He was a founder of ...

in Athens, Edward Durrell Stone in New Delhi,

Marcel Breuer Marcel Lajos Breuer ( ; 21 May 1902 – 1 July 1981) was a Hungarian-American modernist architect and furniture designer. He moved to the United States in 1937 and became a naturalized American citizen in 1944. At the Bauhaus he designed the Was ...

in The Hague, Josep Lluis Sert in Baghdad, and

Eero Saarinen Eero Saarinen (, ; August 20, 1910 – September 1, 1961) was a Finnish-American architect and industrial designer who created a wide array of innovative designs for buildings and monuments, including the General Motors Technical Center; the pa ...

in London. In 1965, Neutra formed a partnership with his son Dion Neutra. Between 1960 and 1970, Neutra created eight villas in Europe, four in Switzerland, three in Germany, and one in France. Prominent clients in this period included Gerd Bucerius, publisher of ''

Die Zeit (, ) is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles. History The first edition of was ...

'', as well as figures from commerce and science. His work was also part of the architecture event in the art competition at the

1932 Summer Olympics The 1932 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the X Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1932) were an international multi-sport event held from July 30 to August 14, 1932, in Los Angeles, California, United States. The Games were held du ...

. Richard Joseph Neutra died on 16 April 1970, at the age of 78.

Architectural style

He was known for the attention he gave to defining the real needs of his clients, regardless of the size of the project, in contrast to other architects eager to impose their artistic vision on a client. Neutra sometimes used detailed questionnaires to discover his client's needs, much to their surprise. His domestic architecture was a blend of art, landscape, and practical comfort. In a 1947 article for the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'', "The Changing House," Neutra emphasizes the "ready-for-anything" plan – stressing an open, multifunctional plan for living spaces that are flexible, adaptable and easily modified for any type of life or event. Neutra had a sharp sense of irony. In his autobiography, ''Life and Shape'', he included a playful anecdote about an anonymous movie producer-client who electrified the moat around the house that Neutra designed for him and had his Persian butler fish out the bodies in the morning and dispose of them in a specially designed incinerator. This was a much-embellished account of an actual client,

Josef von Sternberg Josef von Sternberg (; born Jonas Sternberg; May 29, 1894 – December 22, 1969) was an American filmmaker whose career successfully spanned the transition from the Silent film, silent to the Sound film, sound era, during which he worked with mos ...

, who indeed had a moated house but not an electrified one. The novelist/philosopher

Ayn Rand Alice O'Connor (born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum; , 1905March 6, 1982), better known by her pen name Ayn Rand (), was a Russian-born American writer and philosopher. She is known for her fiction and for developing a philosophical system which s ...

was the second owner of the Von Sternberg House in the San Fernando Valley (now destroyed). A photo of Neutra and Rand at the home was taken by

Julius Shulman Julius Shulman (October 10, 1910 – July 15, 2009) was an American architectural photographer best known for his photograph " Case Study House #22, Los Angeles, 1960. Pierre Koenig, Architect." The house is also known as the Stahl House. Shulm ...

. Neutra's early watercolors and drawings, most of them of places he traveled (particularly his trips to the Balkans in WWI) and portrait sketches, showed influence from artists such as

Gustav Klimt Gustav Klimt (14 July 1862 – 6 February 1918) was an Austrian symbolist painter and a founding member of the Vienna Secession movement. His work helped define the Art Nouveau style in Europe. Klimt is known for his paintings, murals, sket ...

Egon Schiele Egon Leo Adolf Ludwig Schiele (; 12 June 1890 – 31 October 1918) was an Austrian Expressionist painters, painter. His work is noted for its intensity and its raw sexuality, and for the many self-portraits the artist produced, including nude sel ...

etc. Neutra's sister Josefine, who could draw, is cited as developing Neutra's inclination towards drawing.

Legacy

Neutra's son Dion has kept the Silver Lake offices designed and built by his father open as "Richard and Dion Neutra Architecture" in Los Angeles. The Neutra Office Building is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. In 1980, Neutra's widow donated the Van der Leeuw House (VDL Research House), then valued at $207,500, to

California State Polytechnic University, Pomona California State Polytechnic University Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona) is a Public university, public Institute of Technology (United States)#Polytechnic universities, polytechnic research university in Pomona, California, United States. It is the l ...

(Cal Poly Pomona) to be used by the university's College of Environmental Design faculty and students. In 2011, the Neutra-designed Kronish House (1954) at 9439

Sunset Boulevard Sunset Boulevard is a boulevard in the central and western part of Los Angeles, California, United States, that stretches from the Pacific Coast Highway (California), Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, Pacific Palisad ...

in Beverly Hills sold for $12.8 million. In 2009, the exhibition "Richard Neutra, Architect: Sketches and Drawings" at the

Los Angeles Central Library Richard J. Riordan Central Library, primarily known as the Los Angeles Central Library, is the main branch of the Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL), in Downtown Los Angeles. It is named after Mayor of Los Angeles Richard Riordan. It consists o ...

featured a selection of Neutra's travel sketches, figure drawings and building renderings. An exhibition on the architect's work in Europe between 1960 and 1979 was mounted by the MARTa Herford, Germany. The Kaufmann Desert House was restored by Marmol Radziner + Associates in the mid-1990s. The typeface family

Neutraface Neutraface is a geometric sans-serif typeface designed by Christian Schwartz for House Industries, an American digital type foundry. It was influenced by the work of architect Richard Neutra and was developed with the assistance of Neutra's son ...

, designed by

Christian Schwartz Christian Schwartz (born December 30, 1977, in Concord, New Hampshire, United States) is an American type designer. He has been awarded the German Design Award and the Prix Charles Peignot. Life Schwartz began designing fonts in school. A g ...

for

House Industries House Industries is a type foundry and design studio based in Yorklyn, Delaware. The company was created in the 1990s in Wilmington, Delaware by co-founders Andy Cruz and Rich Roat. The company is best known for its typeface creations, which have ...

, was based on Richard Neutra's architecture and design principles. In 1977, he was posthumously awarded the

AIA Gold Medal The AIA Gold Medal is awarded by the American Institute of Architects conferred "by the national AIA Board of Directors in recognition of a significant body of work of lasting influence on the theory and practice of architecture." It is the Ins ...

, and in 2015, he was honored with a Golden Palm Star on the Walk of Stars in

Lost works

Neutra's "Windshield" house built on Fishers Island, New York, for John Nicholas Brown II burned down on New Year's Eve 1973 and was not rebuilt. The 1935 Von Sternberg House in Northridge, California, was demolished in 1972. Neutra's 1960 Fine Arts Building at

California State University, Northridge California State University, Northridge (CSUN or Cal State Northridge), is a public university in the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. With a total enrollment of 36,848 students (as of Fall 2024), it has the ...

, was demolished in 1997, three years after sustaining severe damage in the

1994 Northridge earthquake The 1994 Northridge earthquake affected Greater Los Angeles, California, on January 17, 1994, at 04:30:55 PST. The epicenter of the moment 6.7 () blind thrust earthquake was beneath the San Fernando Valley. Lasting approximately 8 seconds ...

. The 1962 Maslon House in

Rancho Mirage, California Rancho Mirage is a city in Riverside County, California, United States. The city is a low-density desert community with resorts, golf courses, and country clubs within the Colorado Desert section of the Sonoran Desert. Nestled along the foothil ...

, was demolished in 2002. Neutra's Cyclorama Building at Gettysburg was demolished by the National Park Service in March 2013. The Slavin House (1956) in

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara (, meaning ) is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States excepting A ...

was destroyed in a fire in 2001. The Benedict and Nancy Freedman House House (1949) burned down in the 2025 Pacific

Palisades Fire The Palisades Fire was a highly destructive wildfire that began burning in the Santa Monica Mountains of Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County on January 7, 2025, and grew to destroy large areas of Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, P ...

Selected works

* Jardinette Apartments, 1928, 5128 Marathon Street, Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California *

Lovell House The Lovell House or Lovell Health House is an International style architecture, International style Modern architecture, modernist residence designed and built by Richard Neutra between 1927 and 1929. The home, located at 4616 Dundee Drive in ...

, 1929,

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

* Van der Leeuw House (VDL Research House), 1932,

* Mosk House, 1933, 2742 Hollyridge Drive,

Hollywood, California Hollywood, sometimes informally called Tinseltown, is a List of districts and neighborhoods in Los Angeles, neighborhood and district in the Central Los Angeles, central region of Los Angeles County, California, within the city of Los Angeles. ...

* Nathan and Malve Koblick House, 1933, 98 Fairview Avenue, Atherton, California * Laemmle Building, 1932, 6301 Hollywood Boulevard,

Hollywood, Los Angeles, California Hollywood, sometimes informally called Tinseltown, is a neighborhood and district in the central region of Los Angeles County, California, within the city of Los Angeles. Its name has become synonymous with the U.S. film industry and the peo ...

* Scheyer House, 1934, 1880 Blue Heights Drive, Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California * William and Melba Beard House (with Gregory Ain), 1935, 1981 Meadowbrook,

Altadena Altadena () is an unincorporated area, and census-designated place in the San Gabriel Valley and the Verdugos regions of Los Angeles County, California. Directly north of Pasadena, it is located approximately from Downtown Los Angeles. Its po ...

* California Military Academy, 1935,

Culver City, California Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. It is mostly surrounded by Los Angeles, but also shares a border with the unincorporated area of Ladera Heights, Californi ...

* Corona Avenue Elementary School, 1935, 3835 Bell Avenue,

Bell, California Bell is an municipal corporation, incorporated city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located near the center of the former San Antonio Township (abolished after 1960), its population was 33,559 at the 2020 United States census ...

* Largent House, 1935, 49 Hopkins Avenue at the corner of Burnett Avenue, San Francisco. Building was demolished by new owners and , they have been ordered to rebuild an exact replica. * Von Sternberg House, 1935,

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, Los Angeles County, California. Situated to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it comprises a large portion of Los Angeles, the Municipal corpo ...

, Los Angeles *

Sten The STEN (or Sten gun) is a British submachine gun chambered in 9×19mm which was used extensively by British and Commonwealth forces throughout World War II and during the Korean War. The Sten paired a simple design with a low production co ...

and

Frenke Emmerthal is a municipality in the Hameln-Pyrmont district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Weser, approximatively 6 km south of Hameln. Its seat is in the village Kirchohsen. In 1973, the Emmerthal was formed by mer ...

House (

Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments are sites which have been designated by the Los Angeles, California, Cultural Heritage Commission as worthy of preservation based on architectural, historic and cultural criteria. History The Historic-Cul ...

#647), 1934, 126 Mabery Road,

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

* The Neutra House Project, 1935, Restoration of the Neutra "Orchard House" in

Los Altos, California Los Altos (; Spanish language, Spanish for "The Heights") is a city in Santa Clara County, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 31,625 according to the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Most of the city's growth ...

* Josef Kun House, 1936, 7960 Fareholm Drive, Nichols Canyon, Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California * Darling House, 1937, 90 Woodland Avenue, San Francisco, California * George Kraigher House, 1937, 525 Paredes Line Road, Brownsville, Texas * Landfair Apartments, 1937,

Westwood, Los Angeles, California Westwood is a commercial and residential neighborhood in the northern central portion of the Westside (Los Angeles County), Westside region of the city of Los Angeles, California. It is the home of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCL ...

* Strathmore Apartments, 1937,

* Aquino Duplex, 1937, 2430 Leavenworth Street, San Francisco * Leon Barsha House (with P. Pfisterer), 1937, 302 Mesa Road, Pacific Palisades, California * Miller House, 1937,

* Windshield House, 1938,

Fisher's Island, New York Fishers Island is an island within the Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town of Southold (town), New York, Southold in Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County, New York. It lies at the eastern end of Long Island Sound, off the sout ...

* Albert Lewin House, 1938, 512-514 Palisades Beach Road, Santa Monica, Los Angeles * Emerson Junior High School, 1938, 1650 Selby Avenue,

West Los Angeles, California West Los Angeles is an area within the city of Los Angeles, California, United States. The residential and commercial neighborhood is divided by the Interstate 405 freeway, and each side is sometimes treated as a distinct neighborhood, mapped ...

* Ward-Berger House, 1939, 3156 North Lake Hollywood Drive, Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California * Kelton Apartments,

Westwood, Los Angeles Westwood is a commercial and residential neighborhood in the northern central portion of the Westside (Los Angeles County), Westside region of the city of Los Angeles, California. It is the home of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCL ...

* Sidney Kahn House, 1940, Telegraph Hill, San Francisco * Beckstrand House, 1940, 1400 Via Montemar, Palos Verdes Estates, Los Angeles County * Bonnet House, 1941, 2256 El Contento Drive, Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California * Neutra/Maxwell House, 1941, 475 N. Bowling Green Way,

Brentwood, Los Angeles Brentwood is a suburban neighborhood in the Westside region of Los Angeles, California. History General Modern development began after the establishment of the Pacific Branch of the National Home for Disabled Soldiers and Sailors in the ...

(Moved to

Angelino Heights Angelino Heights, alternately spelled Angeleno Heights, is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Los Angeles. Situated between neighboring Chinatown and Echo Park, the neighborhood is known for its concentration of eclectic architectural styles fro ...

in 2008.) * Van Cleef Residence, 1942, 651 Warner Avenue,

* Geza Rethy House, 1942, 2101 Santa Anita Avenue, Sierra Madre, California * Channel Heights Housing Projects, 1942,

San Pedro, California San Pedro ( ; ) is a neighborhood located within the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay and Los Angeles Harbor Region, Harbor region of the city of Los Angeles, California, United States. Formerly a separate city, it consolidated with Los ...

* John Nesbitt House, 1942, 414 Avondale,

* Kaufmann Desert House, 1946,

* Stuart Bailey House, 1948,

Pacific Palisades, California Pacific Palisades is a neighborhood in the Westside Los Angeles, Westside region of the city of Los Angeles, California, situated about west of downtown Los Angeles. Throughout January 2025, the majority of Pacific Palisades was severely affec ...

(Case Study 20A) *

Case Study Houses The Case Study Houses were experiments in American residential architecture sponsored by '' Arts & Architecture'' magazine, which commissioned major architects of the day to design and build inexpensive and efficient model homes for the United Sta ...

#6, #13, #20A, #21A * Schmidt House, 1948, 1460 Chamberlain Road, Linda Vista, Pasadena, California * Joseph Tuta House, 1948, 1800 Via Visalia,

Palos Verdes, California The Palos Verdes Peninsula () is a peninsular subregion of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, located within southwestern Los Angeles County, California. It is often called simply "Palos Verdes", and is made up of a group of cities in the Palos ...

* Holiday House Motel, 1948, 27400 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu, California * Elkay Apartments, 1948, 638–642 Kelton Avenue, Westwood, Los Angeles * Gordon Wilkins House, 1949, 528 South Hermosa Place,

South Pasadena, California South Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 26,943, up from 25,619 at the 2020 census. It is located in the Western San Gabriel Valley. It is in area and lies betwe ...

* Alpha Wirin House, 1949, 2622 Glendower Avenue,

Los Feliz, Los Angeles Los Feliz (; Spanish for "The Féliz (family)", ) is a hillside neighborhood in the greater Hollywood area of Los Angeles, California, abutting Hollywood and encompassing part of the Santa Monica Mountains. The neighborhood is named after the ...

* Hines House, 1949, 760 Via Somonte,

* Atwell House, 1950, 1411 Atwell Road,

El Cerrito, California El Cerrito (Spanish language, Spanish for "The Little Hill") is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States, and forms part of the San Francisco Bay Area. It has a population of 25,962 according to the 2020 United States census, 2 ...

* Nick Helburn House, 1950, Sourdough Road,

Bozeman, Montana Bozeman ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Gallatin County, Montana, United States. The 2020 United States census put Bozeman's population at 53,293, making it Montana's fourth-largest city. It is the principal city of the Bozeman, Montan ...

* Neutra Office Building — Neutra's design studio from 1950 to 1970 * Kester Avenue Elementary School, 5353 Kester Avenue, Los Angeles (with Dion Neutra), 1951,

Sherman Oaks, California Sherman Oaks (founded in 1927) is a neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles, California within the San Fernando Valley region. The neighborhood includes a portion of the Santa Monica Mountains, which gives Sherman Oaks a lower population density ...

* Everist House, 1951, 200 W. 45th Street,

Sioux City, Iowa Sioux City () is a city in Woodbury County, Iowa, Woodbury and Plymouth County, Iowa, Plymouth counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 85,797 in the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Iowa, fo ...

* Moore House, 1952,

Ojai, California Ojai ( ; Chumashan languages, Chumash: ''’Awhaỳ'') is a city in Ventura County, California. Located in the Ojai Valley, it is northwest of Los Angeles and east of Santa Barbara, California, Santa Barbara. The valley is part of the east– ...

(received

AIA AIA or A.I.A. or Aia may refer to: Aia * Aia, a small town in the province of Gipuzkoa, Spain * Peñas de Aya, small mountain range in Oiartzun, Gipuzkoa * Aia, current Kutaisi, ancient capital of Colchis * Aia, another name for Aea (Malis), an ...

award) * Perkins House, 1952–55, 1540 Poppypeak Drive,

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commerci ...

* Schaarman House, 1953, 7850 Torreyson Drive, Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California * Olan G. and Aida T. Hafley House, 1953, 5561 East La Pasada Street, Long Beach * Brown House, 1955, 10801 Chalon Road,

Bel Air, Los Angeles Bel Air (or Bel-Air) is a residential neighborhood on the Los Angeles Westside, in the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains in the U.S. state of California. Together with Beverly Hills, California, Beverly Hills and Holmby Hills, Bel Air fo ...

* Kronish House, 1955, Beverly Hills, California * Sidney R. Troxell House, 1956, 766 Paseo Miramar, Pacific Palisades, California * Chuey House, 1956, 2460 Sunset Plaza Drive, Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California * Clark House, 1957,

* Airman's Memorial Chapel, 1957, 5702 Bauer Road, Miramar, California * Sorrell's House, 1957, Old State Highway 127,

Shoshone, California Shoshone is a census-designated place (CDP) in Inyo County, California, United States. The population was 22 at the 2020 census, down from 31 at the 2010 census. The town was founded in 1910. Although small, it is notable as a southern gateway ...

* Ferro Chemical Company Building, 1957,

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

, Ohio * The Lew House, 1958, 1456 Sunset Plaza Drive, Los Angeles * Connell House, 1958,

Pebble Beach, California Pebble Beach is an unincorporated area, unincorporated community on the Monterey Peninsula in Monterey County, California, Monterey County, California, United States. The small coastal residential community of mostly single-family homes is also ...

* Mellon Hall and Francis Scott Key Auditorium, 1958, St. John's College,

Annapolis, Maryland Annapolis ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland. It is the county seat of Anne Arundel County and its only incorporated city. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east ...

* Riviera United Methodist Church, 1958, 375 Palos Verdes Boulevard,

Redondo Beach Redondo Beach (Spanish for ) is a coastal city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, located in the South Bay region of the Greater Los Angeles area. It is one of three adjacent beach cities along the southern portion of Santa Mo ...

* Loring House, 1959, 2456 Astral Drive, Los Angeles (addition by Escher GuneWardena Architecture, 2006 * Singleton House, 1959, 15000

Mulholland Drive Mulholland Drive is a street and road in the eastern Santa Monica Mountains of Southern California. It is named after pioneering Los Angeles civil engineer William Mulholland. The western rural portion in Los Angeles and Ventura counties is n ...

, Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California * Oyler House, 1959

Lone Pine, California Lone Pine is a census-designated place (CDP) in Inyo County, California, United States, located south-southeast of Independence. The population was 2,035 at the 2010 census, up from 1,655 at the 2000 census. The town is located in the Owens ...

* UCLA Lab School, 1959 (with Robert Alexander) * Garden Grove Community Church, Community Church, 1959 (Fellowship Hall and Offices), 1961 (Sanctuary), 1968 (Tower of Hope),

Garden Grove, California Garden Grove is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States. The population was 171,949 at the 2020 census. State Route 22, also known as the Garden Grove Freeway, passes through the city in an east–west direction. The west ...

* Three senior officer's quarters on

Mountain Home Air Force Base Mountain Home Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) installation in the Western United States, western United States. Located in Southwestern Idaho, southwestern Idaho in Elmore County, Idaho, Elmore County, the base is southwest ...

, Idaho, 1959 * Julian Bond House, 1960, 4449 Yerba Santa,

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

* R.J. Neutra Elementary School, 1960,

Naval Air Station Lemoore Naval Air Station Lemoore or NAS Lemoore is a United States Navy base, located in Kings County, California, Kings County and Fresno County, California, Fresno County, California, United States. Lemoore Station, California, Lemoore Station, a cen ...

, in

Lemoore, California Lemoore (formerly La Tache and Lee Moore's) is a city in Kings County, California, United States. Lemoore is located west-southwest of Hanford, at an elevation of . It is part of the Hanford-Corcoran Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA Code 252 ...

(designed in 1929) * Buena Park Swim Stadium and Recreation Center, 1960, 7225 El Dorado Drive,

Buena Park, California Buena Park (''Buena'', Spanish for "Good") is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census its population was 84,034. It is the location of several tourist attractions, including Knott's Berry Farm. It i ...

Palos Verdes High School Palos Verdes High School (PVHS) is one of three public high schools on the Palos Verdes Peninsula in Los Angeles County, Southern California, USA (the others being Palos Verdes Peninsula High School (formerly Rolling Hills High School) and Rancho ...

, 1961, 600 Cloyden Road,

* Haus Rang, 1961,

Königstein im Taunus Königstein im Taunus (, ) is a health spa and lies on the thickly wooded slopes of the Taunus in Hesse, Germany. The town is part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main Regional Authority, Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. Owing to its advantageous location ...

, Germany * Hans Grelling House/Casa Tuia on Monte Verità, 1961, Strada del Roccolo 11,

Ascona 300px, Ascona Ascona ( ) is a municipality in the district of Locarno in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. It is located on the shore of Lake Maggiore. The town is a popular tourist destination and holds the yearly Ascona Jazz Festival. ...

, Tessin, Switzerland * Los Angeles County Hall of Records, 1962,

. *

Gettysburg Cyclorama ''The Battle of Gettysburg'', also known as the Gettysburg Cyclorama, is a cyclorama painting by the French artist Paul Philippoteaux depicting Pickett's Charge, the climactic Confederate attack on the Union forces during the Battle of Gettys ...

, 1962,

Gettysburg National Military Park The Gettysburg National Military Park protects and interprets the landscape of the Battle of Gettysburg, fought over three days between July 1 and July 3, 1863, during the American Civil War. The park, in the Gettysburg, Pennsylvania area, is m ...

, Pennsylvania * Gonzales Gorrondona House, 1962, Avenida la Linea 65, Sabana Grande, Caracas, Venezuela * Bewobau Residences, 1963,

Quickborn Quickborn () is a town in the district of Pinneberg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It belongs to Metropolregion Hamburg and is located on the north part of Hamburg on Autobahn A7. It is a 700 year old town which also belonged to Denmark in th ...

near

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, Germany * Mariners Medical Arts, 1963,

Newport Beach, California Newport Beach is a coastal city of about 85,000 in southern Orange County, California, United States. Located about southeast of downtown Los Angeles, Newport Beach is known for its sandy beaches. The city's harbor once supported maritime indu ...

* Painted Desert Visitor Center, 1963,

Petrified Forest National Park Petrified Forest National Park is a national park of the United States in Navajo and Apache counties in northeastern Arizona. Named for its large deposits of petrified wood, the park covers about , encompassing semi-desert shrub steppe as wel ...

, Arizona * United States Embassy, (later US Consulate General until 2011), 1959, Abdullaha Haroon Road,

Karachi, Pakistan Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

* Swirbul Library, 1963,

Adelphi University Adelphi University is a private university in Garden City, New York, United States. Adelphi also has centers in Downtown Brooklyn, Hudson Valley, and Suffolk County in addition to a virtual, online campus for remote students. As of 2019, it had ...

, Garden City, New York * Kuhns House, 1964,

Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California Woodland Hills is a neighborhood bordering the Santa Monica Mountains in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California, United States. History The area was inhabited for around 8,000 years by Native Americans in the United States, ...

* Rice House (

), 1964, 1000 Old Locke Lane,

Richmond, Virginia Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...

* VDL II Research House, 1964, (rebuilt with son Dion Neutra)

* Rentsch House, 1965,

Wengen Wengen () is a mountain village in the Bernese Oberland of central Switzerland. Located in the canton of Bern at an elevation of above sea level, it is part of the Jungfrauregion and has approximately 1,300 year-round residents, which swells t ...

near Berne in Switzerland; Landscape architect: Ernst Cramer * Ebelin Bucerius House, 1962–1965,

Brione sopra Minusio Brione sopra Minusio is a municipality in the district of Locarno in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. History Brione sopra Minusio is first mentioned in 1313 as ''Briono''. Before 1479 Brione and Minusio formed a '' Vicinanza'', which als ...

in Switzerland; Landscape architect: Ernst Cramer * Roberson Memorial Center, 1965, Binghamton, New York * Haus Kemper, 1965,

Wuppertal Wuppertal (; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany, with a population of 355,000. Wuppertal is the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and List of cities in Germany by population, 17th-largest in Germany. It ...

, Germany * Sports and Congress Center, 1965,

Reno Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada–California border. It is the county seat and most populous city of Washoe County, Nevada, Washoe County. Sitting in the High Eastern Sierra foothills, ...

, Nevada * Delcourt House, 1968–69,

Croix Croix (French for "cross") may refer to: Belgium * Croix-lez-Rouveroy, a village in municipality of Estinnes in the province of Hainaut France * Croix, Nord, in the Nord department * Croix, Territoire de Belfort, in the Territoire de Belfort depa ...

Nord Nord, a word meaning "north" in several European languages, may refer to: Acronyms * National Organization for Rare Disorders, an American nonprofit organization * New Orleans Recreation Department, New Orleans, Louisiana, US Film and televisi ...

, France * Haus Pescher, 1969,

, Germany * Haus Jürgen Tillmanns, 1970, Stettfurt, Thurgau, Switzerland File:Gettysburg Cyclorama Building.jpg, Cyclorama Building, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania File:Jardinette Apartments (Richard Neutra), Hollywood.JPG, Jardinette Apartments, Hollywood File:Kaufman Desert Home.jpg, Kaufmann Desert House, Palm Springs, California. File:6207-GardenGroveCommunityDriveInChurch.jpg, Garden Grove Community Church, Garden Grove, CA File:OldUSConsulateKarachi.jpg, The former US embassy (later consulate) in

Publications

* 1927: ''Wie Baut Amerika? (How America Builds)'' (Julius Hoffman) * 1930: ''Amerika: Die Stilbildung des neuen Bauens in den Vereinigten Staaten'' (Anton Schroll Verlag). New Ways of Building in the World eries vol. 2. Edited by

El Lissitzky El Lissitzky (, born Lazar Markovich Lissitzky , ; – 30 December 1941), was a Soviet Jewish artist, active as a painter, illustrator, designer, printmaker, photographer, and architect. He was an important figure of the Russian avant-garde, h ...

. * 1935: * 1948: ''Architecture of Social Concern in Regions of Mild Climate'' (Gerth Todtman) * 1951: ''Mystery and Realities of the Site'' (Morgan & Morgan) * 1954: ''Survival Through Design'' (Oxford University Press) * 1956: ''Life and Human Habitat'' (Alexander Koch Verlag). * 1961: ''Welt und Wohnung'' (Alexander Kock Verlag) * 1962: ''Life and Shape: an Autobiography'' (Appleton-Century-Crofts), reprinted 2009 (Atara Press) * 1962: ''Auftrag für morgen'' (Claassen Verlag) * 1962: ''World and Dwelling'' (Universe Books) * 1970: ''Naturnahes Bauen'' (Alexander Koch Verlag) * 1971: ''Building With Nature'' (Universe Books) * 1974: ''Wasser Steine Licht'' (Parey Verlag) * 1977: ''Bauen und die Sinneswelt'' (Verlag der Kunst) * 1989: ''Nature Near: The Late Essays of Richard Neutra'' (Capra Press)

References

Other sources

* ** reprinted in 1975 by Praeger * ** reprinted in 1994 by the University of California Press ** reprinted in 2006 by Rizzoli Publications * * * * * * Publications on Richard Neutra: * Harriet Roth; Richard Neutra in ''Berlin, Die Geschichte der Zehlendorfer Häuser'', Berlin 2016. Hatje Cantz publishers. * Harriet Roth; ''Richard Neutra. The Story of the Berlin Houses 1920–1924'', Berlin 2019. Hatje Cantz publishers. * Harriet Roth; ''Richard Neutra. Architekt in Berlin,'' Berlin 2019. Hentrich&Hentrich publishers.

External links

Finding Aid for the Richard and Dion Neutra Papers

UCLA Library The UCLA Library (University of California, Los Angeles) system is one of the largest academic research libraries in North America, with a collection of over twelve million books and 100,000 serials. The system is spread over 12 libraries, 12 ot ...

Special Collections.
Digitized plans, sketches, photographs, texts from the Richard and Dion Neutra Collection

Special Collections.
Jan De Graaff Residence architectural drawings and photographs, circa 1940s
* [http://findingaids.cul.columbia.edu/ead/nnc-a/ldpd_8600162 Richard Joseph Neutra papers, 1927–1978 Held in the Dept. of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University, New York City]
Neutra Institute for Survival Through Design (NISTD)

Neutra biography at r20thcentury.com

Info and photos from Winkens.ie

History, plans and photographs of the VDL I & VDL II Research Houses

Neutra VDL Studio and Residences iPad App

* ttps://socalarchhistory.blogspot.com/2011/05/r-m-schindler-richard-neutra-and-louis.html R. M. Schindler, Richard Neutra and Louis Sullivan's "Kindergarten Chats"
Foundations of Los Angeles Modernism: Richard Neutra's Mod Squad

Richard Joseph Neutra papers, 1927–1978, held by the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University
* Finding aid for Thomas S. Hines interviews regarding Richard J. Neutra.

Getty Research Institute The Getty Research Institute (GRI), located at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California, is "dedicated to furthering knowledge and advancing understanding of the visual arts".

, Los Angeles. Accession No. 2010.M.58. Interviewees include Neutra's family, friends, business associates, clients, and Los Angeles architects. {{DEFAULTSORT:Neutra, Richard 01 1892 births 1970 deaths 20th-century American architects 20th-century Austrian people American people of Austrian-Jewish descent Austrian architects Austrian emigrants to the United States Austrian expatriates in Germany Austrian Jews California State Polytechnic University, Pomona faculty Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany International style architects Jewish architects Modernist architects from the United States Modernist architects Art competitors at the 1932 Summer Olympics People from Leopoldstadt Recipients of the AIA Gold Medal