Emmerich Spielmann

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Emerich M [oses] Spielmann (born June 23, 1873 in Vienna , † 1952 in New York ) was an Austrian architect and inventor.

Life

Emerich Spielmann, who also called himself Ernst Spielmann, came from a Jewish family who came to Vienna from Moravia in the middle of the 19th century . His father was the businessman Hermann Spielmann (1842–1925), his mother Josefine Franzos (1850–1918). Spielmann studied after high school from 1892 to 1899 at the Technical University with Karl König and Karl Mayreder . He then completed a few years of practical experience with Wilhelm Stiassny and Friedrich Ohmann until 1903 , as well as for a short time in the city building department. In 1904 he worked in Ernst Gotthilf's studio , where he met Alfred Teller . From 1905 Spielmann worked as a freelance architect, initially together with Ernst Lindner , from around 1908 then with Alfred Teller. This shared office lasted until Spielmann's activity ended in 1932. Since 1926 he also had the license to civil engineer. As a Jew, Spielmann's license was withdrawn in 1938. He de-registered for London in 1939, embarked on the Veendam with his daughter Anna on May 6 in Southampton and applied for naturalization in New York on August 22, 1944. He lived in the borough of Queens and died in 1952.

plant

Emerich Spielmann and Alfred Teller succeeded Karl König. While the external design of their buildings was mostly rather conservative, they were always technically state-of-the-art. After starting out with a secessionist vocabulary of forms, they soon turned to neo-baroque and classicist forms. Their design was, however, very reduced in the decor on the facades; Ceramic tiles were often used as design elements. The duo was particularly successful in the years before the First World War.

Bognergasse 2 (1910)
Salesianergasse 33 (1910)
  • Rental house , Pötzleinsdorfer Straße 18, Vienna 18 (1906) (heavily modified)

with Alfred Teller:

  • Residential and commercial building , Neubaugasse 4, Vienna 7 (1907)
  • Villa , Auhofstraße 68, Vienna 13 (1907) (slightly changed)
  • Residential and commercial building , Bognergasse 2, Vienna 1 (1910)
  • Rental houses , Salesianergasse 29-33, Vienna 3 (1910)
  • "Caldara" factory , Laxenburger Strasse 123-125, Vienna 10 (1910)
  • Residential and commercial buildings "Tuchlauben-Hof" (also "Seitzer-Hof"), Tuchlauben 7-7a, Vienna 1 (1912)
  • Villa , Pötzleinsdorfer Strasse 56, Vienna 18 (1912)
  • Rental house , Richardgasse 11 (today Jaurèsgasse), Vienna 3 (1913)
  • Conversion of the villa , Sternwartestraße 56, Vienna 18 (1913–1914) (originally Viktor Siedek)
  • Villa Perutz , Hans Wallnerstraße 23, Reichenau an der Rax (1914)
  • Adaptation of the tenement house , Taborstrasse 17, Vienna 2 (1917)
  • Villa Pick , Hartäckerstraße 18, Vienna 19 (1924)
  • Extensions and reconstructions of the Hauser Sobotka factory , Smolagasse 1-5, Vienna 22 (1924–1927) (further extension in 1932)
  • Residential complex of the municipality of Vienna , Wattgasse 96-98, Vienna 17 (1929–1930)

In addition to Spielmann's work as an architect, he constructed an electro-optical musical instrument, the "super piano". It is based on the principle of the light tone. Seven tracks with sound patterns are applied to each of 12 rotating discs, which are scanned using selenium cells. In principle, any tone color would be possible, such as the voices of singers or the tones of a violin. A copy of this instrument is preserved in the Technisches Museum Wien. Spielmann started working in 1927 and continued to work until his death. He received several patents for this, the last one in the USA (US 2,469,850).

Spielmann's letter to his son Franz

literature

  • Peter Donhauser: From the spirit of research and old = Wiener Werkmannsarbeit , in: Blätter für Technikgeschichte, Volume 71. Vienna 2010, ISSN  0067-9127 .
  • Peter Donhauser: Austrian Pioneers of Electronic Musical Instruments , in: Frode Weium et al .: Material Culture and Electronic Sound , Washington 2013, ISBN 978-1-935623-10-6 .

Web links

Commons : Emmerich Spielmann  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Footnotes

  1. ^ First name according to Spielmann's letterhead, several original documents and patent specifications
  2. ^ Donhauser: On the spirit of research ...; Date of death based on information from his granddaughter.
  3. ^ Donhauser, Austrian Pioneers ...
personal data
SURNAME Spielmann, Emmerich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Minstrel, Ernst
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian architect
DATE OF BIRTH June 23, 1873
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH 1952
Place of death New York City