Rudolf Fränkel and Neues Bauen: Work in Germany, Romania, and the United Kingdom

Monograph on the work of Rudolf Fraenkel (b. 14.06.1901 in Neisse, Upper Silesia – d. 23.04.1974 in Cincinnati, OH) who practiced architecture in Berlin (1924-33), Bucharest (1933-37), and London (1937-50) before emigrating from the UK to the US (professor at Miami University, Oxford, OH, 1950-68). The 200-page monograph documents all projects from historical and contemporary sources, and draws on the extant albums of original photographs that belonged to Prof. Fraenkel and that are now on the collection of the Wertz Art and Architecture Library at Miami University as well as contemporary photographs. New drawings (plans and axonometric projections) supplement those from contemporary publications. Included in the body of the monograph is a biography of Fraenkel followed by a complete bibliography. The monograph will be the first comprehensive documentation of the work of Rudolf Fraenkel, who was born on 14 June 1901 to a well to do Jewish family in Germany in (then) Neisse, Upper Silesia (now Nysa, Poland). After studying architecture at the Technische Hochschule Charlottenburg (today TU Berlin) from 1918 to 1922, in 1924 Fraenkel embarked in a promising professional career in Berlin. His first project was the Gross-Siedlung Atlantic across from the Gesundbrunnen S-Bahn and U-Bahn stations in Berlin-Wedding, a project that today is listed as a historic monument. He proceeded to see realized other important residences, apartment blocks, and entertainment venues in Berlin and elsewhere. The Cinema Lichtburg that completed his master plan for the Gartenstadt Atlantic included a hotel, restaurants, dance hall and other entertainment venues, and was one of the premier cinemas as sound movies came into prominence. Fraenkel was by all accounts among the leaders of the Avant-Garde architects in Berlin. With the rise of Nazism and its persecution of the Jews and suppression of the Avant-Garde, Fraenkel emigrated in summer 1933 to Bucharest where he continued his significant professional activities until once more emigrating in 1937 to London. In Bucharest, he again designs an important cinema, the Scala, and other residences and apartment buildings. In London, Fraenkel continued his activities, designing significant factories and residences that are among the more important examples of Continental Modernism in the UK. In 1950, Fraenkel was invited to join the faculty of the Department of Architecture, where in 1954 he initiated a program in city design, one of the earliest such programs in the United States. It continued until 1968. With its cancellation, Fraenkel retired from the faculty of architecture at Miami. Fraenkel’s many designs – a number today classified as historical monuments – gained early recognition for being amongst those trend-setting projects of the Avant-Garde, appearing in important monographs on contemporary architecture. The monograph begins with a biography of Fraenkel, focusing on his family and clients and their place in contemporary life in Germany, and then presents the complete catalogue of ca. 75 works by Fraenkel in Europe, from single-family houses to industrial complexes. More specifically, the monograph illustrates and analyses in detail the more significant projects, presenting them in context to other contemporary works. These projects are detailed with historic and contemporary photographs as well as original and new graphics. Included in the monograph is a compr