Difference between revisions of "Victor Gruen"
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==Early Life== | ==Early Life== | ||
| − | Gruen was born Victor Grunbaum in a middle-class Jewish family in [[Vienna]]. He trained as an architect but also devoted much of his youthful energy to producing ansd acting in political cabarets in the interwar Austrian capital. As a Jew, and a known social democrat, he appreciated the danger he was in following the German [[Anschluss]] of Austria in 1938 - he was briefly arrested by the Nazi authorities and released only after friends gave a bribe - and fled the country with his wife, travelling via Zurich and London to [[New York City]]. There he recommenced working as an architect, initially on high-class Fifth Avenue shops. During the war (in which he applied to join, but was rejected by, the US Army), he became a naturalised American citizen and changed his surname to Gruen. | + | Gruen was born Victor Grunbaum in a middle-class Jewish family in [[Vienna]]. He trained as an architect but also devoted much of his youthful energy to producing ansd acting in political cabarets in the interwar Austrian capital. As a Jew, and a known social democrat, he appreciated the danger he was in following the German [[Anschluss]] of Austria in 1938 - he was briefly arrested by the Nazi authorities and released only after friends gave a bribe - and fled the country with his wife, travelling via [[Zurich]] and [[London]] to [[New York City]]. There he recommenced working as an architect, initially on high-class Fifth Avenue shops. During the war (in which he applied to join, but was rejected by, the US Army), he became a naturalised American citizen and changed his surname to Gruen. |
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| + | He rapidly achieved prominence as a retail architect (a branch of architecture somewhat looked down on in what was still a rather snobbish profession), designing clothing stores for the California-based chain Grayson's in the early 1940s and subsequently for the [[Detroit]] dapartment store Hudson's. However, he made his name with a depatrment store for the [[Los Angeles]] department store Milliron's, which | ||
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[[Category:Urban Planning]] | [[Category:Urban Planning]] | ||
Revision as of 11:35, May 31, 2008
Victor Gruen (1903-1980) was an Austrian architect and planner who lived and worked in the United States between 1938 and 1968, and who achieved renown as a pioneering designer and promoter of shopping malls.
Early Life
Gruen was born Victor Grunbaum in a middle-class Jewish family in Vienna. He trained as an architect but also devoted much of his youthful energy to producing ansd acting in political cabarets in the interwar Austrian capital. As a Jew, and a known social democrat, he appreciated the danger he was in following the German Anschluss of Austria in 1938 - he was briefly arrested by the Nazi authorities and released only after friends gave a bribe - and fled the country with his wife, travelling via Zurich and London to New York City. There he recommenced working as an architect, initially on high-class Fifth Avenue shops. During the war (in which he applied to join, but was rejected by, the US Army), he became a naturalised American citizen and changed his surname to Gruen.
He rapidly achieved prominence as a retail architect (a branch of architecture somewhat looked down on in what was still a rather snobbish profession), designing clothing stores for the California-based chain Grayson's in the early 1940s and subsequently for the Detroit dapartment store Hudson's. However, he made his name with a depatrment store for the Los Angeles department store Milliron's, which