Oblique View of the Apartment Building of Karl Langer, 1901

The Slovenian artist Josef Plečnik (1872–1957) studied under Otto Wagner (1841–1918) from 1894 to 1897, and subsequently assisted his professor with large-scale projects such as the Vienna city railway. The apartment building Langer in Vienna’s Hietzing district was his first autonomous work. While the commissioner wanted a design in keeping with the Gründerzeit style, the young architect managed to assert his innovative ideas. In his sculptural approach to the facade design, he not only turned his back on Historicism but also radically disassociated himself from Wagner’s influence. Wave and flower ornaments, which extend in an almost unrestrained manner across the entire street-facing facade, bay windows as well as a butterfly-like window pair on the ground floor suggest influences derived from Belgian Art Nouveau. This sketch shows the front side of the building at an advanced planning stage.

IR, 2021