August Portois

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August Portois (1893)

August Portois (* 1841 in Brussels (?); † June 19, 1895 in Nice ), also written Augustin Portois , was an Austrian entrepreneur and co-founder and part owner of the important furniture factory Portois & Fix .

biography

August Portois was either Walloon or French.

He worked for a trading company on Boulevard Haussmann in Paris. This company supplied complete home furnishings. Portois founded the Société Commerciale de Paris with Isidor Blum (* 1840) in 1869, with its seat in Paris, the seat in Vienna was at Kolowratring 7. In 1874 Isidor Blum left the company, August Portois continued to run it in Vienna.

Empress Elisabeth of Austria-Hungary commissioned the Société Commerciale de Paris to redesign the living rooms on the ground floor of Schönbrunn Palace in 1874 . On June 30, 1874 August Portois was awarded the title of imperial and royal purveyor to the court . Portois had a factory in the 9th district of Vienna. He was commissioned to furnish the Crown Prince's apartment in Prague Castle , the villa of Katharina Schratt , ships belonging to the imperial and royal privileged Danube steamship company and imperial saloon cars . August Portois took part in the Vienna World Exhibition in 1873 and in 1877 became a member of the Vienna Carpenter's Cooperative. During his stay he became a naturalized Austrian citizen.

In 1880, Portois met the upholsterer Anton Fix (1846–1918) professionally and together they set up a large art and furniture joinery. Your company "Portois & Fix" was officially recorded on May 25, 1881. Furniture production was officially registered in 1884. Over the next ten years, Portois played a key role in the rapid rise of the Portois & Fix company.

August Portois held the post of Argentine consul in Vienna. He owned a property in Aspern , where he had donated a prize for virtue according to French custom, which was awarded annually to a local girl.

Because of his sickness, he retired from the business in November 1894. He died in Nice after an illness at the age of 54.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Press information: Parisian esprit and Viennese modernism. The company Portois & Fix. (No longer available online.) In: Wagner: Werk - Museum Postsparkasse. July 7, 2008, archived from the original on October 9, 2009 ; Retrieved November 15, 2009 .
  2. ↑ Little Chronicle. Deaths. In: The New Free Press. June 20, 1895, p. 1 , accessed November 15, 2009 .

literature

  • Parisian esprit and Viennese modernism - the company Portois & Fix . With contributions by Eva B. Ottillinger, Peter Haiko, Ulrike Scholda and Bernadette Decristoforo. Exhibition catalog, 2008. 116 pages.
  • Ingrid Haslinger: Customer - Kaiser. The story of the former imperial and royal purveyors . Schroll, Vienna 1996, ISBN 3-85202-129-4 .
personal data
SURNAME Portois, August
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Portois, Augustine
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH 1841
PLACE OF BIRTH uncertain: Brussels
DATE OF DEATH June 19, 1895
Place of death Nice