Otto Wagner - Major works

Architect and teacher, born in Penzing, NE Austria. Professor at the Vienna Academy (1894–1912), he was the founder of the Vienna School, his pupils including Josef Hoffmann and Josef Olbrich. Though for many years a classical revivalist, he became an important advocate of purely functional architecture. His most influential work, produced at the end of his career, includes several stations in Vienna, and the Vienna Postal Savings Bank (1904–6), regarded as the first example of modern architecture in the 20th-c.

Wagner was born in Penzing, a suburb of Vienna.

In the 1890s, he designed several building in the Art Nouveau style. He was very interested in urban planning - in 1890 he designed a new city plan for Vienna, but only his urban rail network, the Stadtbahn, was built. His style incorporated the use of new materials and new forms to reflect the fact that society itself was changing. In pursuit of this ideal, he designed and built structures that reflected their intended function, such as the austere Wohnhaus (apartment building).

In 1897, Otto Wagner, Gustav Klimt, Joseph Maria Olbrich, Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser founded the "Vienna Secession" artistic group.

Wagner died in Vienna in 1918.

Major works

Floodgate, Nussdorf near Vienna, built in 1894 Viennese Stadtbahn, metropolitan railway system (1894-1902), e.g. Karlsplatz Stadtbahn Station Majolikahouse, Vienna (1898-1899) Post Office Savings Bank Building, Vienna (1894-1902) (Video of Model) Kirche am Steinhof, Vienna (1903-1907).