Richard J. Neutra and Otto Winkler project records
Finding aid created by San Francisco History Center staff using RecordEXPRESS
San Francisco Public Library. San Francisco History Center
2022
San Francisco Public Library
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San Francisco, California 94102
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Title: Richard J. Neutra and Otto Winkler project records
Dates: 1934-1950
Collection Number: SFH 554
Creator/Collector:
Winkler, Otto, 1897-1993
Extent: 1 document box and 1 oversize folder
Repository:
San Francisco Public Library. San Francisco History Center
San Francisco, California 94102
Abstract: Contracts, specifications and drawings from a San Francisco architecture firm
Language of Material: English
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[Identification of item]. Richard J. Neutra and Otto Winkler project records. Collection Number: SFH 554. San Francisco Public
Library. San Francisco History Center
Gift, 2019-11
Biography/Administrative History
Richard Neutra was born in Austria and is chiefly known for introducing the International Style in architecture to the United
States. He worked with architect Otto Winkler on a dozen residences in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1930s. Neutra had
a studio at 251 Kearny Street, San Francisco from 1935-1940, and Winkler shared that studio in 1939.
Otto Winkler was born in Zurich and came to San Francisco. He married Mary E. Lafler in 1931, and the couple lived at her
property on Telegraph Hill. In 1934, Winkler and Neutra were sharing a studio there at 1441 Montgomery St. Mary divorced Otto
in 1936, but Winkler later designed apartments for the Lafler property. Mary Winkler died in Burlingame in 1976, and Otto
Winkler died in New York City in 1993.
Scope and Content of Collection
This small collection includes Neutra and Winkler’s design drawings submitted to the San Francisco Bridge Celebration competition,
1934, for a site in the South Basin, San Francisco; the Celebration would evolve into the Golden Gate International Exposition.
The collection also includes Neutra’s contracts for the Largent, Jones, and Schiff residences in San Francisco; specifications
for the Largent residence; and Neutra and Winkler’s specifications for residences in San Francisco, Berkeley, Lafayette, San
Jose, Davis, Los Altos, Nicasio, Monterey, and Elk, California. A few typescripts for published articles relating to Neutra’s
work with the Los Angeles school district are included, and there are two folders of photographs of plans and models, of finished
projects, and of interiors, including the Kaufman house. Various checklists, a few pieces of correspondence, and ephemera
are included. Neutra was western regional architectural consultant for the National Youth Administration (NYA) in 1939, a
program for unemployed youth, and one folder includes bluelines of drawings completed by youth workers in the NYA Statewide
Drafting Area #7 California, circa 1939-1941.
Exhibitions – California – San Francisco – Planning.
Architecture, Domestic – California – San Francisco.
Modern movement (Architecture)
Buildings – Specifications.
Architectural contracts.
Architects -- California -- San Francisco.
Neutra, Richard Joseph, 1892-1970 – Archives.
Kaufman, Edward, 1893-1955 -- Homes and haunts.
United States. National Youth Administration. State of California
San Francisco (Calif.) – Buildings, structures, etc.
Architectural drawings