Richard Neutra

Richard Joseph Neutra, AIA was an Austrian-American architect who became one of the most prominent modernist architects of the 20th century. Born into a wealthy Jewish family in Vienna's Leopoldstadt district, Neutra studied at the Vienna University of Technology under Max Fabiani and Karl Mayreder, and also attended Adolf Loos's private architecture school. After serving as a lieutenant in WWI and briefly working in Switzerland and Germany with landscape architect Gustav Ammann and architect Erich Mendelsohn, Neutra emigrated to the United States in 1923, becoming a naturalized citizen in 1929.

He worked briefly with Frank Lloyd Wright before joining Rudolf Schindler in California, where he developed his practice creating rigorously geometric but airy structures that epitomized West Coast mid-century modern residential design. His career spanned residential, commercial, and institutional buildings, with notable clients including Edgar J. Kaufmann and his practice training several successful young architects including Gregory Ain, Harwell Hamilton Harris, and Raphael Soriano.