Brokers of Modernity: East Central Europe and the Rise of Modernist Architects, 1910–1950

401 Pages·2019·2.88 MB·English

by  Martin Kohlrausch

The first half of the 20th century witnessed B
MARTIN
the rise of modernist architects. R KOHLRAUSCH
BROKERS OF MODERNITY reveals how
O
East Central Europe turned into one of the
K
pre-eminent testing grounds of the new
M
E S
belief-system of modernism. By combining
R
the internationalism of the CIAM organi za tion
S
and the modernizing aspirations of the new R

states built after 1918, the reach of modernist OF O

architects extended far beyond their

E
established fields. Yet, these architects paid M
D
a price when Europe’s age of extremes
EAST CENTRAL
O
intensified. Using mainly Polish, but also
K
D EUROPE
wider Central and Eastern European,
E E
examples this book delivers a pioneering
AND THE RISE
R
study of the dynamics of modernist architects O
as a group, including how they became N OF MODERNIST
R
qualified, how they organized, how they I
T ARCHITECTS,
R
communicated and their own attempts to live
MARTIN KOHLRAUSCH Y
the modernist lifestyle themselves. is professor of European N 1910– 1950

In so doing BROKERS OF MODERNITY Political History and
KM
head of the research unit OA B
raises questions concerning collective work HR
Modernity and Society LT
RI
and the social role of architects today. at the KU Leuven. AN I
U

S
C T
H
OF
Y
LEUVEN UNIVERSITY PRESS
9 789462 701724
BROKERS COMPLEET.indd 1 18/02/2019 08:05
Brokers of Modernity
East Central Europe and the Rise
of Modernist Architects,
1910-1950

Brokers of Modernity
East Central Europe
and the Rise of
Modernist Architects,
1910-1950
Martin Kohlrausch
Published with the support of the

KU Leuven Fund for Fair Open Access

and

Published in 2019 by Leuven University Press / Presses Universitaires de Louvain / Universitaire Pers
Leuven. Minderbroedersstraat 4, B-3000 Leuven (Belgium).
Text © Martin Kohlrausch, 2019
Images © Copyright holders named on p. 381 – 383
Every effort has been made to contact all holders of the copyright to the visual material contained in
this publication. Any copyright-holders who believe that illustrations have been reproduced without
their knowledge are asked to contact the publisher.
This book is published under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Non-Derivative
4.0 Licence.
The license allows you to share, copy, distribute and transmit the work for personal and non-
Commercial use providing author and publisher attribution is clearly stated. Attribution should
include the following information:
Kohlrausch, M. 2019. Brokers of Modernity: East Central Europe and the Rise of Modernist Architects,
1910-1950. Leuven, Leuven University Press. (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
Further details about Creative Commons licenses are available at
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/
ISBN 978 94 6270 172 4 (Paperback)
ISBN 978 94 6166 254 5 (ePDF)
ISBN 978 94 6166 278 1 (ePUB)
D / 2019/ 1869 / 8
NUR: 648
Layout: Friedemann Vervoort
Cover design: Griet van Haute
Cover illustration: CIAM IV, Patris II, H. Syrkus with Le Corbusier and S. Giedion (gta Archiv /
ETH Zürich, Karl Hubacher)
Table of Contents
Note on Translation 11
Abbreviations 13
Introduction Brokers of Modernity 15
Why Modernist Architects? 22
Modernist Architects and Modernity 26
Thematic and Temporal Structures 28
1. Modernity in Eastern Europe – East European Modernism? 31
The European East – Sketches of a Projection screen 35
East Central Europe – A Space of Crisis? 36
The Post-Monarchic State and the Legacy of the War 42
Eastern Modernity 48
Conclusion 54
2. Architects as Experts of the Social: A new Type entering the European Scene 57
New Tasks for Architects 59
Architects and the Rise of the Modern Expert 65
Training Modern Architects 68
The Rise of Scientific Urbanism and the Self-Empowerment of Architects 78
The Lure of the Machine 83
Themes of Change – Architecture as Technology: Rationalization, Planning,
and Technocracy 89
Conclusion 96
3. Organising New Architectural Goals 97
Organising Architects in a New State 102
Architecture in a New Key – the CIAM 107
Self-empowerment – the CIAM and its Polish Group 110
CIAM-Universalism or Eastern Fast-track? The CIAM-Ost 114
5
Realizers – the WSM as Interface 119
Conclusion 128
4. Communicating Social Change through Architecture 131
The Spatial Structure of the New Discourse on Architecture 132
The Abstract Heritage of the First World War and the Logic of the Media 135
Architectural Journals and Books as Architectural Programme 141
Travelling, Gathering, Thinking Alike: Architects as Modern Men 155
Communicating Problems and Solutions via Language and Exhibitions 163
Conclusion 174
Gallery with Plates 177
5. Materialising the International Agenda: Warszawa Funkcjonalna 193
The CIAM IV Moment – Politics Coming in 194
Realising the Novel: The Functionalist Laboratory of Zlín 198
The Idea of the Functional City 202
Warszawa Funkcjonalna 221
Conclusion 232
6. Under Pressure: Modernist Architects and the Rise of Political Extremes 235
Questioned Loyalties and Strained International Exchange 240
Continuity and Rupture – the Onslaught on Warsaw 246
Personal Toll and Collaboration 256
Windows of Opportunity: Warsaw as a Post-catastrophic City 259
Old Bonds and new Attention: Warsaw as a Realized Utopia? 268
Conclusion 279
Epilogue 281
Acknowledgements 291
Notes 293
Bibliography 345
Illustration Credits 381
Index 385
6
List of Illustrations

List of Illustrations
1. Film The Black Cat. Poelzig’s modernist villa above the war cemetery 32
2. Villa Tugendhat near Brno (current view) 34
3. Port of Gdynia, a symbol of the achievements of the Second Polish Republic 40
4. Statistic for the dire housing situation in Warsaw and Poland
in comparison with Western Europe. The graph stresses the
overcrowding of single room flats (below) 42
5. School of Political Science, designed by B. Lachert and J. Szanajca 46
6. CIWF, Warsaw, designed by E. Norwerth 46
7. Collage of recent architectural designs from Poland for the
Triennale 1933, Milan 51
8. Artificial Fertilizer pavilion by S. Syrkus and Electrolux pavilion by
S. and B. Brukalski. PeWuKa Poznań 1929 52
9. Trade Fair Palace, Prague and staircase Café Era, Brno, both current views 53
10. Melnikov house, Moscow, front façade 58
11. Franz Wilhelm Seiwert, Der Architekt 63
12. Designs by graduates of the Faculty of Architecture, WUT, 1933 73
13. Architects’ Ball at the Faculty of Architetcure, WUT, 1938 74
14. Birth years of architects awarded building commissions in Poland
between 1919 and 1939, showing (1) projected plans and (2)
completed projects. A: born before 1875, B: 1876-90, C: 1891-
1905, D: after 1906. 75
15. Final diplomas at Faculty of Architecture, WUT. 1921-1939, of
which number of women 76
16. Increase in number of organized architects in Poland and Warsaw, 1919-1938 77
17. Machine culture in the BLOK journal 84
18. B. Lachert, house of the architect 85
19. S. Syrkus’ contribution to the Machine Age exhibition 87
20. B. Brukalska’s design for a kitchen and its rational use 88
21. Apartment building, S. Syrkus, 1930s 91
22. National planning. Map of COP, 1938 92
23. Sanatoria in Otwock and Istebna, Poland 96
7
8 Brokers of Modernity
24. Entry for League of Nations competition by Henryk Oderfeld and S. Syrkus 98
25. Cover of the journal Praesens 1 106
26. Group picture CIAM-Ost meeting at Budapest. Seated: S. Giedion,
H. and S. Syrkus 115
27. WSM exhibition on the minimum dwelling 122
28. WSM projects in Warsaw 125
29. Project Simultaneous Theatre, design S. Syrkus 126
30. The visual allure of modernism. The Brukalski couple’s own house
covered in Praesens 1930 138
31. The promise of reinforced concrete. Examples in Praesens 1926 and 1930 140
32. Cover of the BLOK journal 143
33. ‘Architecture today’ in Poland and exhibition on architecture in
primarily Central European countries, AA, 1930, 1933 144
34. S. Syrkus in AA, 1937 146
35. Czechoslovak modernist designs in Praesens, 1930 149
36. Lech Niemojewski, plans for a future Warsaw, commercial district
and street lay-out, 1925 150
37. Examples of interaction between picture and text. Sport facilities in AiB 152
38. Living modernism. Painting Two Figures, F. Molnár 160
39. Banquet for French architects in Warsaw 1932, in AA 162
40. CIAM IV, Patris II, H. Syrkus with Le Corbusier and S. Giedion 163
41. DOM, Campaign An Affordable Home of Your Own, 1932 166
42. Polish pavilion at the Paris World Fair, 1937 169
43. PeWuKa of 1929 in Poznań and Main pavilion of Brno Exhibition
Grounds built for the Exhibition of Contemporary Culture in
Czechoslovakia on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the new
state (current view) 170
44. Anatolia Hryniewicka-Piotrowska, the Women’s Labour pavilion, PeWuKa 171
45. PeWuKa, ‘Picture Language’ and social questions 172
46. Pavilions at PeWuKa 173
47. Functionalist buildings on large scale in Zlín 200
48. Le Corbusier in Zlín, 1935 201
49. C. van Eesteren, Sketch of Warsaw, showing public property for
housing purposes (“Staatsgelände für Wohnzwecke”) lying north of
the city limits 205
50. Różański plan for Warsaw, designating residential areas and green aereas, 1928 212
51. Office for the Regional Plan for Warsaw at the Exhibition for
Housing Construction, Warsaw 1935 214
52. Starzyński and politicians visiting the Warsaw of Tomorrow
exhibition with maps of Warsaw in Poland and in Europe behind them, 1936 219
List of Illustrations 9
53. Warsaw, Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow exhibition, 1938. Map of
Warsaw showing schools and cultural institutions, map showing
progress of public transportation network extrapolated into the future 220
54. Warsaw, Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow exhibition, 1938: S. Starzyński
(left) and S. Różański 221
55. Map showing pollution in Warsaw for CIAM IV congress 222
56. Maps from Warszawa Funkcjonalna. Warsaw at the crossroads of
European communication arteries 224
57. Maps from Warszawa Funkcjonalna. Communicating urbanistic
information with visual shorthand 225
58. Maps from Warszawa Funkcjonalna. Clusters of future urban development 227
59. Design for a Piłsudski forum for Warsaw, 1938 236
60. National Museum, Warsaw 237
61. Cover of last issue of AiB, June 1939 239
62. Cover of the book Defense of Warsaw by Teresa Żarnowerówna 247
63. Prudential building Warsaw: plan, construction phase and final state 249
64. Plans of housing estates for Koło, Warsaw, H. Syrkus, 1947, initiated
during wartime 253
65. Letter S. Syrkus from Auschwitz of 25 July 1944 255
66. H. Syrkus to C. van Eesteren post-war postcard of the office of PAU
showing site of S. Syrkus’ capture 258
67. Destruction of Warsaw after the 1944 Uprising. Prudential building up front 260
68. Members of BOS 262
69. Koło estate built between 1947 and 1950, designed by H. Syrkus
during the war 263
70. Spychalski and Dwight Eisenhower visiting the remains of the Old
Town of Warsaw 265
71. Continuities of planning? First image: S. Starzyński at the Warsaw
of Tomorrow exhibition, 1936. Second image: B. Bierut on 22 June
1948, being shown designs for the Trasa W-Z main traffic artery by
architect Józef Sigalin. Also present is Roman Piotrowski, amongst others 266
72. CDT department store (‘Smyk’), 1948-1952, the last prominent
modernist design in Warsaw’s inner city before the breakthrough of
Socialist Realism 267
73. Telegram H. Syrkus to F. Forbát of 4 July 1945 269
74. Exhibition catalogue Warsaw Lives. Destruction and reconstruction 272
75. Warsaw Lives. Projected Warsaw skyscrapers 273
76. H. Syrkus, with mayor of Warsaw S. Tołwiński and his wife Joanna
visiting Stockholm, 1948 276
77. H. Syrkus with Le Corbusier and Josep Lluís Sert at CIAM congress
in Bergamo, 1949 278