Erich Mendelsohn (Built Works)

Eric Mendelsohn's visionary approach to architecture was evident in his very first project, the Einstein Tower in Potsdam. The rounded edges and clearly defined verticals and horizontals of this building -- elements the young German architect had sketched as a soldier during World War I -- launched him into the avant-garde and also brought him numerous commissions in Berlin throughout the 1920s. The same expressionist sensibility would define Mendelsohn's work as he moved from Germany to England and to Jerusalem and, in 1941, to the United States. Eric Mendelsohn: Architect 1887-1953, the first major monograph on the architect in twenty-five years, documents and analyzes all of his completed projects. Extensively illustrated with architectural drawings and archival photographs, the volume presents a comprehensive view of each building: the Einstein Tower; the Luckenwalde hat factory; department stores and office buildings in Berlin, Stuttgart, and Nuremberg; the De La Warr Pavilion at Bexhill-on-Sea in Sussex; a hospital in Haifa; a building for the Hebrew University on Mount Scopus; commissions for the American Jewish community (including several synagogues and a Holocaust memorial in Riverside Park, New York); and numerous private houses. In addition to the visual material, essays by noted scholars cover topics such as Mendelsohn's travels in Holland, Palestine, the United States, and the Soviet Union; his 1933 departure from Germany; the project for a Mediterranean academy; and his relationships with his employees.