Maria Ludwig Michael (Mies) Mies van der Rohe (1886 - 1969)

Born 27 Mar 1886 in Aachen, Rheinprovinz, Preußen, Deutsches Reich

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 17 Aug 1969 at age 83 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States

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Biography

Ludwig (Mies) Mies van der Rohe is Notable.

Ludwig (Mies) Mies van der Rohe has German Roots.

"Ludwig Mies, who joined his name with that of his mother, van der Rohe, was one of the most influential architects of the twentieth century. He often stressed that he wanted to be good rather than original, and observed, "Architecture has nothing to do with the invention of forms, it is no playground for young and old children." His design for a high-rise building near Friedrichstrasse Station in Berlin became the emblem for an entire generation.

Born in Aachen on March 27, 1886, he learned to respect craftsmanship from his father, a stone mason. Like his Bauhaus colleague and friend Walter Gropius, he never passed an academic exam. He was a student of Peter Behrens in Berlin. As a private in World War I, he built bridges and roads in the Balkans and after the war created designs such as that for the Glass House (1921), which elicited both enthusiasm and protest. As Gropius' successor at the Bauhaus in Dessau after 1930, he met the head of the architectural section of New York's Museum of Modern Art, Philip Johnson, who was to become Mies' enthusiastic protagonist in America. Upon Johnson's suggestion, he became head of the Armour Institute (now Illinois Institute of Technology) in Chicago in 1937. Mies initially had to overcome a number of difficulties, but he was soon known as "the King." "Who better than this poet of steel and glass could have continued the tradition of Chicago's skyscrapers?" queried James Marston Fitch. The Illinois Institute, and its campus built by Mies, had become internationally known by the time of Mies' resignation from the Institute in 1958.

The immense influence of Mies and other architects, who either were German or had grown up in Germany, prompted Henry Luce, publisher of Time and Life, to state that "the revolution in the architecture of the 20th century has been completed, and was completed primarily in America." Luce's observation recalls Benjamin Franklin's comment that "America cultivates best what Germany brought forth..." President Kennedy chose Mies as the first person to be awarded the U.S. Medal of Freedom.

Many of Mies' American buildings pointed toward new directions in architecture. Although Mies never abandoned his basic principles, he did depart from the rigorous functionalism of his early period through the use of colored glass, bronze sidings and patios. The Seagram's Building on New York's Park Avenue, designed in collaboration with Johnson, and the Lake Shore Apartments in Chicago, are especially famous. But Mies' influence was not restricted to architecture. He made an impact in many areas, especially in the design of furniture. A chair designed by Mies for the World's Fair in Barcelona, in August 1929, was to become an international model for design after World War II. Mies died on August 17, 1969."^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ Gerard Wilk, Americans from Germany, German Information Center, Second printing 1987 (copywrite 1976), pg. 42

• Naturalization
• WWII
• Brazilian emigration
• Grave
• Obituary
• Wikipedia: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
• Wikidata: Item Q41508, de:Wikipedia