Erich Mendelsohn

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Lore & Background

Mendelsohn was born to a Jewish family in Allenstein, East Prussia, Germany (now Olsztyn, Poland), the fifth of six children. His mother Emma Esther was a hatmaker and his father David was a shopkeeper. He attended a humanist Gymnasium in Allenstein and continued with commercial training in Berlin. In 1906, he took up the study of national economics at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. In 1908, he began studying architecture at the Technische Hochschule Charlottenburg; two years later he transferred to the Technische Hochschule München, where in 1912 he graduated cum laude. In Munich, he was influenced by Theodor Fischer and made contact with members of Der Blaue Reiter and Die Brücke. From 1912 to 1914, he worked as an independent architect in Munich. In 1915, he married the cellist Luise Maas. Between 1910 and 1953, they corresponded with each other; these materials provide insight into their lives, including their fleeing from the Third Reich in Germany in 1933. Through his wife, he met the cello-playing astrophysicist Erwin Finlay Freundlich, who wished to build an astronomical observatory to experimentally confirm Einstein's Theory of Relativity. This led to Mendelsohn designing the Einsteinturm. His relationship with Freundlich and the family friendship with the Luckenwalde hat manufacturers Salomon and Gustav Herrmann helped him to early success. At the end of 1918, on his return from World War I, he settled his practice in Berlin. The Einsteinturm and the hat factory in Luckenwalde established his reputation. In 1924, along with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius, he was one of the founders of the progressive architectural group known as Der Ring. His practice employed as many as forty people, among them, as a trainee, Julius Posener. In the spring of 1933, in the wake of growing antisemitism and the rise of the Nazis in Germany, he fled to England. His assets were seized by the Nazis, his name struck from the list of the German Architects' Union, and he was excluded from the Prussian Academy of Arts. In England he formed an architectural practice with Serge Chermayeff, which continued until the end of 1936 and together they designed Cohen House, Shrubs Wood, and the De La Warr Pavilion. In 1935, he opened an office in Jerusalem and planned Jerusalem stone buildings in the International Style. In 1938, he dissolved his London office. At that same time he and his wife received British citizenship and he changed his name to 'Eric'. In Mandatory Palestine, Mendelsohn built many now-famous buildings: Weizmann House and three laboratories at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Anglo-Palestine Bank in Jerusalem, Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus, Rambam Hospital in Haifa and others. From 1941 until his death, Mendelsohn lived in the United States and taught at the University of California, Berkeley. Until the end of World War II his activities were limited by his immigration status to lectures and publications. However, he also served as an advisor to the U.S. government. For instance, in 1943 he collaborated with the U.S. Army and Standard Oil in order to build 'German Village', a set of replicas of typical German working-class housing estates, which would be of key importance in acquiring the know-how and experience necessary to carry out the firebombing of Berlin. In 1945, he established himself in San Francisco. From then until his death in 1953 he undertook various projects, mostly for Jewish communities.

Reader's Guide

Erich Mendelsohn's significance lies in his synthesis of expressionist form with functionalist purpose, particularly in commercial and civic buildings of the Weimar Republic. His Einsteinturm and Schocken department stores became icons of modern architecture, influencing Art Deco and Streamline Moderne. His work in Mandatory Palestine helped shape the International Style in the region. Forced into exile by the Nazis, he adapted his practice across England, Palestine, and the United States, leaving a legacy of dynamic, sculptural buildings that balanced artistic vision with practical needs. His career illustrates the transnational impact of European modernism and the resilience of architects displaced by political upheaval.

Did You Know?

• Mendelsohn was not related to the Mendelssohn family.
• His mother Emma Esther was a hatmaker, and his father David was a shopkeeper.
• He graduated cum laude in architecture from the Technische Hochschule München in 1912.
• In 1943 he collaborated with the U.S. Army and Standard Oil to build 'German Village', a set of replicas of German working-class housing estates for firebombing research.
• He changed his name to 'Eric' when he received British citizenship in 1938.

Roots and Formative Education

Erich Mendelsohn entered the world on 21 March 1887 in Allenstein, East Prussia, a town that today sits within Poland as Olsztyn. He was the fifth of six children born to David, a shopkeeper, and Emma Esther, a hatmaker. A small plaque on the side of Barbara Street in Olsztyn still marks the site of his childhood home. Though his surname echoes the famous Mendelssohn family, no blood relation existed. He attended a humanist Gymnasium before moving to Berlin for commercial training. In 1906 he enrolled in national economics at the University of Munich, then pivoted to architecture at the Technische Hochschule Charlottenburg in 1908, transferring two years later to the Technische Hochschule München, where he graduated cum laude in 1912. During his Munich years, the architect Theodor Fischer—whose own practice straddled neo-classicism and Jugendstil—shaped his thinking, while Mendelsohn also gravitated toward the radical circles of Der Blaue Reiter and Die Brücke, the two great expressionist artist collectives. This confluence of academic rigour and avant-garde energy set the trajectory for everything that followed.

The Expressionist Breakthrough

Between 1914 and 1918, while serving in World War I, Mendelsohn filled letters to his wife Luise with small-format sketches of factories and large-scale buildings—visions that would soon become built reality. His first major commissions crystallised his reputation: the Einsteinturm in Potsdam, designed for astrophysicist Erwin Finlay Freundlich to test Einstein's Theory of Relativity, and the 1921 hat factory in Luckenwalde for the Herrmann family. The latter's dyeing hall, crowned by a ventilation hood that expelled toxic fumes, bore an ironic resemblance to a hat itself. By 1921 his Mossehaus newspaper offices in Berlin had already placed him at the forefront of Art Deco and Streamline Moderne. His 1924 Schocken Department Stores embodied the consumerist spirit of the Weimar Republic, while his Universum cinema demonstrated a dynamic functionalism tailored to the rhythms of modern public life. Wasmuths Monatshefte für Baukunst devoted a booklet to his output that same year, and he co-founded the progressive group Der Ring alongside Mies van der Rohe and Gropius.

A Practice at Full Scale

By the mid-1920s Mendelsohn's Berlin studio had grown to employ as many as forty people, including the young trainee Julius Posener, who would later become a noted architectural historian. His portfolio spanned continents and ideologies. In 1926 he collaborated with senior architect Hyppolit Pretreaus on the Red Banner Textile Factory in the Soviet Union, an engagement that reflected his genuine interest in socialist industrial experiments. Back in Germany, his Mossehaus and Universum cinema continued to ripple outward, influencing the Art Deco and Streamline Moderne vocabularies across Europe. In 1926 he purchased an old villa, and by 1928 he had designed Rupenhorn, a sprawling residence of nearly four thousand square metres that the family occupied two years later. He published an expensive illustrated volume about the house, with contributions from Amédée Ozenfant and others, a gesture that made him an object of envy among peers. The breadth of his output—from Soviet factories to private residences to high-profile commercial commissions—marked him as one of the most versatile architects of the Weimar period.

Exile, Reinvention, and Later Years

In the spring of 1933, as antisemitism and Nazi power surged, Mendelsohn fled to England. The regime seized his assets, struck his name from the German Architects' Union, and expelled him from the Prussian Academy of Arts. In London he partnered with Serge Chermayeff, and together they designed Cohen House, Shrubs Wood, and the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea, an arts and entertainment complex funded by the local landowner. That partnership dissolved by the end of 1936. Meanwhile, his long friendship with Chaim Weizmann led him to open a Jerusalem office in 1935, where he planned International Style buildings in local Jerusalem stone. His Palestinian portfolio included Weizmann House, three laboratories at the Weizmann Institute, the Anglo-Palestine Bank, Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus, and Rambam Hospital in Haifa. In 1938 he and Luise received British citizenship, adopting the name Eric, which also enabled them to sponsor other family members. From 1941 until his death on 15 September 1953, he lived in the United States, teaching at the University of California, Berkeley, where his immigration status initially limited him to lectures and publications.

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