Background

Erich Mendelsohn was born on March 21, 1887, in Allenstein, East Prussia, Germany (now Olsztyn, Poland), where his father, Kaufmanns David, was a merchant and his mother, Frau Emma (Jaruslawsky) Mendelsohn, a musician, Mendelsohn aspired, at an early age, to become an architect.

In 1933, Erich immigrated to England and became a naturalized citizen in 1938, then he immigrated to the United States in 1941, where he naturalized in 1946.

Education

In 1906 Mendelsohn took up the study of national economics at the University of Munich. In 1908, he studied architecture at the Technical University of Berlin; two years later he transferred to the Technical University of Munich, where in 1912 he graduated cum laude.

Career

Until the start of World War I, Mendelsohn worked on his own. It was during this period that he came to appreciate the German expressionist movement. His contact with expressionists, especially the Blaue Reiter group, had a significant influence on his work. Soon after World War I began, he enlisted in the German army and saw action on the eastern and western fronts. Architectural sketches he made during the war led him to his first major commission, the Einstein Tower, an observatory and astrophysics laboratory in Potsdam (1920-1921). The observatory was built for the further study of Einstein’s theory of relativity and when Mendelsohn showed Einstein around the building, Einstein said only one word: “Organic.”

Throughout the 1920s and early 1930s, Mendelsohn continued to design buildings that unified purpose and design. Schocken department stores, which he designed for Nuremberg (1925), Stuttgart (1926), and Chemnitz (1928), with their imaginative use of glass, exemplify his success in attaining this type of uniformity. During this time, he also designed a Jewish cemetery at Königsberg (now Kaliningrad, USSR), which was subsequently destroyed by the Nazis.

With the rise of the Nazis, Mendelsohn left Germany. In 1933, he arrived in England where he formed a partnership with Serge Chermayeff. Their most significant project together was the De La Warr Entertainment Pavilion in Bexhill in 1935, described by an English paper of the time as “the last word in modern architecture.” (A British fascist newspaper deplored the award of the commission “to aliens who have found it necessary to flee their native land.”)

Mendelsohn accepted many commissions in Palestine. Building in Palestine presented different problems from building in northern Europe, the greatest being the climate. Mendelsohn tackled the challenge with typical enthusiasm and success. He designed homes for Chaim Weizmann in Rehovot (1935-1936), and Salman Schocken in Jerusalem (1935-1936).

By 1941 Erich had relocated to the United States, where he created several Jewish hospitals and temples. One of his last commissions was for the Atomic Energy Commission Laboratories building in Berkeley, California.

Achievements

• Erich Mendelsohn was one of modern architecture’s greatest figures. He was known by his contemporaries as both a visionary architect and a realistic businessman. One of his outstanding works was the Metal Workers’ Union headquarters in Berlin. After WWI, his first commission was the Einstein Tower, Potsdam (1919–21), which is a bizarre, highly sculptured structure. The Hat Factory of Steinberg, Hermann & Co. which he designed at Luckenwalde (1920–23) also had a striking appearance, and it was entirely functional as well. He designed the Mossehaus (1921–1923) in Berlin, an office building renovated and with a new corner. During the 1920s Mendelsohn designed a number of structures that were particularly notable for their prominent and imaginative use of glass in strongly horizontal compositions; outstanding were the Schocken stores at Stuttgart (1927) and Chemnitz (1928).
  
  Erich's most important works in Palestine were the Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem (1937-1938), and the government hospital in Haifa (1947-1948). He also designed Maimonides Hospital in San Francisco (1946) and built a series of synagogues and Jewish community centers across the United States in such cities as Saint Louis, Grand Rapids, and Saint Paul. His synagogue in Cleveland boasts a dome one hundred feet in diameter and exemplifies a form that is harmonious with its surroundings.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Der Einsteinturm in Potsdam: Architektur und Astrophysik 1995
  • Structures and sketches 1924
  • Amerika, Bilderbuch Eines Architekten 1926
  • Russland, Europa, Amerika: Ein architektonischer Querschnitt 1929
  • Neues Haus Neue Welt 1931
  • Three lectures on architecture 1944
  • Eric Mendelsohn: Letters of an Architect 1967
  • Algebraic and geometric combinatorics 1982

Membership

Erich Mendelsohn was a member of the German Expressionist movement, active in expressionist theatre. Served with C.E., German Army, World War I. Guggenheim fellow, New York City, 1943. Fellow Royal Institute British Architects, Mexican Institute Architects, American International Assurance, Academy Arts Berlin, member International League Modern Architecture Tokyo, Arts.

Personality

Mendelsohn was a man divided within himself: when he called himself an East-Prussian Oriental, he pointed with irony to that deep chasm, in terms of his roots, affinities and emotional loyalties, which separated Mendelsohn the acculturated German from Mendelsohn the atavistic Jew.

Quotes from others about the person

• “Unlike others of his generation, Mendelsohn’s expressionism was not a negative reaction, not a sad cry of despair, but rather an exuberant song of hope.”

Connections

On October 5, 1915, Mendelsohn married Louise Maas.

Father:

David Mendelsohn

Mother:

Esther (Jaruslawsky) Mendelsohn

Spouse:

Louise Maas

Partner:

Serge Chermayeff

8 October 1900 – 8 May 1996

Serge Ivan Chermayeff (Sergei Ivanovich Issakovich) was a Russian-born British architect, industrial designer, writer, and co-founder of several architectural societies, including the American Society of Planners and Architects.

References

• Eric Mendelsohn
  1960
• Eric Mendelsohn
  1940
• Encyclopedia of World Biography
  1999
• Erich Mendelsohn: Complete Works of the Architect: Sketches, Designs, Buildings
  1992
• Erich Mendelsohn's "Amerika": 82 Photographs
  1993
• International Dictionary of Architects and Architecture
  1993