Goldman and Salatsch “Looshaus”, Adolf Loos 1910Michael Nembrotti & James SannaHistory IV Arch 382

When Adolf Loos wrote “Ornament and Crime” there was a hailstorm of negative criticism. For decades archi-tects and builders have been ornamenting just about every surface of buildings and now Loos comes in and attempts to remove ornament all together. The first build-ing to manifest these ideas was the Goldman & Salatsch Building which caught the same negative criticism, even having been described as a “woman without eyebrows” due to it’s lack of window treatments. The solid white walls of the facade were only inturrupted by the inclusion of windows and a grey stone veneer on the ground floor. The building was also criticized for giving no indication to what was held within. However, this lack of indication made the transition from tailor shop to bank fairly easy as the facade had no symbols for clothing or fabric on the exterior. All in all, whether this building was a successful transition from the heavily ornamented to the unorna-mented is not important, what is important is Adolf Loos opened the eyes of architects and proved that ornament was not necessary in the construction of buildings.

Goldman and Salatsch “Looshaus”, Adolf Loos 1910Michael Nembrotti & James SannaHistory IV Arch 382

Recources: The Looshaus

Schocken Department Store, Erich Mendelsohn 1926Michael Nembrotti & James SannaHistory IV Arch 382

Designed in the modern fashion made pos-sible by Adolf Loos’ denial of ornament, the Schocken Department Store relies on rhythm and Illumination for its striking form. It could be said that the 7’ tall lettering across the top of the ground floor is a form of ornament, however it is not ornament in the same sense as ornament in historical context. By day the solid walls of the Schocken read as a single surface only interrupted by the large glass windows, much in the same way that Loos kept the facade of the Looshaus. But by night, the windows take over and the building’s full beauty can be seen, lines of win-dows sit above the glowing “Schocken” sign and bring the eye directly to the curved glass wall en-closing the staircase. The true elegance of both of these buildings reside in their purity of form and lack of ornament, the architects did not simply rely on ornament to make the building visually striking.

Schocken Department Store, Erich Mendelsohn 1926Michael Nembrotti & James SannaHistory IV Arch 382

Recources: Erich Mendelsohn : the complete works