Jože Plečnik

Plečnik (on his buildings in Vienna occasionally as Josef Plecnik referred; born January 23, 1872 in Ljubljana, † January 7, 1957 ) was a Slovene architect who worked in Vienna, Belgrade, Prague and Ljubljana.

Life and work

Plečnik was the third child of a carpenter in Ljubljana. While his brothers were studying, he attended only one class in high school and then worked in the carpentry shop. His father wanted to make a practitioner of it and did not tolerate any artist in the family. A fellowship enabled him the joiner training at the vocational school in Graz from 1888., Where he supported Leopold Theyer with drawings for the obstruction of the Joanneum in Graz parks.

In 1892 his father died, but he was too young to take over the operation and went so to Vienna, where he worked in the yard construction Kunsttischlerei JW Müller, where he designs furniture especially.

As a result, he came to the Academy of Fine Arts, where he was a student of Otto Wagner, who just took up his teaching position in Vienna. However, this study he soon broke it off because he was not up to the tasks Wagner and argued instead in master school of Wagner, where he was his best pupil.

Its predominant effect sites were Ljubljana, Vienna and Prague. Trips to Rome and Paris had a great influence on him and his later style of architecture.

His most famous buildings were constructed in the years 1900 to 1913 in Vienna: the Zacherl House ( 1903-1905 ), a company building in Vienna's Inner City (fire place, corner farmer's market ) with elegant shapes and designed with marble and steel pins, and the Holy Spirit Church in Ottakring ( 1910-1913 ).

In 1911 he was unanimously nominated by Professor College as the successor of Otto Wagner. Through the intervention of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the professorship was, however, occupied by Leopold Bauer. However Plečnik could be the successor of Jan Kotera in Prague.

In 1920, the Czechoslovak President Tomas G. Masaryk appointed him architect of Prague Castle. Plečnik was thus responsible for the transformation of the castle. In 1922, he began with talks in Ljubljana, but returned in 1935 to regularly back to Prague. In 1925 he began the transformation of Ljubljana. From 1936 to 1941 he established there the building of the National and University Library. The bank building along the Ljubljanica and the Three Bridges ( Tromostovje ) in the city center are his work.

It is also known its careful renovation and expansion of the Church in Bogojina in Prekmurje.

Works (selection)

• Villa Loos ( Melk) (1901 )
• Zacherlhaus (Vienna ) ( 1903-1905 )
• Holy Spirit Church (Vienna ), ( 1908-1913 )
• Prague Castle (Various Projects ) ( 1920-1934 )
• Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus ( Vinohrady ) ( 1928-1932 )
• "Three Bridges" (Ljubljana ) ( 1929-1932 )
• Slovene National and University Library (Ljubljana ) ( 1930-1936 )

Awards

• Honorary Member of the Masaryk Academy práce ( Masaryk Academy of Work ), 1925
• Castle Architect ( appointed by President Masaryk ), 1926
• Member of the Academia znanosti i umetnosti ( Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts), Ljubljana, 1938
• Honorary citizen of the city of Ljubljana, 1939
• Yugoslavian State Order, 1949
• Honorary doctorate from the Technical University of Vienna, 1952
• Honorary doctorate from the Technical University of Ljubljana, 1952
• Corresponding Member of the Royal Institute of British Architects, 1954

Appreciation

• Jože Plečnik an unrealized design for a parliament building in Ljubljana is depicted on the national side of the Slovenian 10 - cent coin. Also, the 500 - Tolar bill of valid 1991-2007 Slovenian currency shows a portrait Jože Plečnik.

• In 1987 ( 22nd District ) of Plecnikweg was named after him in Vienna Danube city.