Harry Seidler (25 June 1923 – 9 March 2006) was an Austrian-born Australian architect who is considered to be one of the leading exponents of Modernism's methodology in Australia and the first architect to fully express the principles of the Bauhaus in Australia. Seidler designed about 119 buildings (96 of which were in his home state of New South Wales) but some have since been demolished or altered in a non-Seidler manner, and he received much recognition for his contribution to the architecture of Australia. Seidler consistently won architectural awards every decade throughout his Australian career of almost 58 years across the varied categories – his residential work from 1950, his commercial work from 1964, and his public commissions from the 1970s. He was a controversial figure throughout his long career as he regularly publicly criticised planning authorities and the planning system in Sydney.
Early life Seidler was born in Vienna, Austria, the son of a Jewish clothing manufacturer. Soon after Nazi Germany annexed Austria in 1938, his older brother Marcell, who was already in England, obtained a visa for Harry to join him as a student in Cambridge.
Architecture education
In England, he studied building and construction at Cambridgeshire Technical School. Even though he was categorised by British wartime tribunal as a "Category C – no risk" refugee fleeing the Nazis, because he was born in Austria, on 12 May 1940, he was interned by the British authorities as an enemy alien, where he was in internment camps first at Huyton near Liverpool, then on the Isle of Man before being shipped to Quebec, Canada and continued to be interned until October 1941, when he was released on probational release from internment to study architecture at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, where he graduated with first class honours in 1944. After working briefly for an architectural firm in Toronto, Seidler (at the age of 21) became a registered architect in Ontario, in February 1945. Although he was ten years old when the Bauhaus was closed, Seidler's analysts invariably associate him with the Bauhaus because he later studied under emigrant Bauhaus teachers in the USA. He attended Harvard Graduate School of Design under Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer on a scholarship in 1945/46, and during the university winter (Christmas) inter-semester approximate four weeks break Seidler worked with Alvar Aalto in Boston drawing up plans for the Baker dormitory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He then studied visual aesthetics at Black Mountain College under the painter Josef Albers in mid 1946 for the US summer.
Early career outside Australia Seidler worked as the first ever assistant to modernist architect Marcel Breuer in New York from late 1946 until March 1948. Seidler also worked in Rio de Janeiro with the architect Oscar Niemeyer for almost two months from shortly after 20 April to early June 1948.
Life in Australia
Seidler's parents migrated to Sydney, Australia in 1946, and (while he was working for Breuer in New York) in late 1947 or early 1948, his mother wrote to him to commission him to come to Sydney to design their home. Seidler arrived in Sydney on (likely) 20 June 1948 (which was a few days before his 25th birthday), with no intention to remain in Australia, but to stay only until the house was finished. The house became known as the Rose Seidler House in Wahroonga, in remote bushland of a suburb on Sydney's Upper North Shore. This project was the first completely modern domestic residence to fully express the philosophy and visual language of the Bauhaus in Australia and won the Sulman Award of 1951. From the huge publicity of this house, others approached Seidler to design their homes. With so many clients and his enjoyment of the Sydney climate and harbour views, Seidler decided to stay in Australia. The Rose Seidler House became a house-museum in 1991. In 1952, Seidler successfully appealed against Ku-ring-gai Council's refusal to approve his design of a glass house in Roseville. In the 1960s Seidler again broke new ground with his design for the Australia Square project (first designs 1961, plaza building 1962–64, tower 1964–67). At the time, the Australia Square tower was the world's tallest light weight concrete building. The design introduced the concept of a large public open plaza and prominent artworks to office towers in Australia. In 1966, he helped lead the protests to try to keep Jørn Utzon as the principal architect of the Sydney Opera House. He was a founding member of the Australian Architecture Association. In 1984 he became the first Australian to be elected a member of the Académie d'architecture, Paris and in 1987 was made a Companion of the Order of Australia, an honour which he accepted in his trademark suit and bowtie. Over the years Mr Seidler was also awarded five Sulman Medals by the Royal Australian Institute of Architects, as well as the Royal Australian Institute of Architects Gold Medal in 1976, and the Royal Gold Medal by the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1996.
For 50 years Harry Seidler has played a vital role in international architecture. His work is widely recognised as an original and intensely creative contribution to the architecture of the second half of the 20th century.
Personal life
Citizenship Harry Seidler became a Canadian citizen when he was studying in the US in late 1945. He travelled to Australia in 1948 on his Canadian passport (which he collected in mid–1946). By 1958, he had lived in Australia for ten years, and then sought to renew his Canadian passport but was unable to do so because he had been a naturalised Canadian who had not lived in Canada for more than three years). He became an Australian citizen in late 1958 so he would have a passport to travel for work and his honeymoon.
Partnership with Penelope Seidler Harry Seidler married Penelope Evatt, daughter of Clive Evatt on 15 December 1958; they had two children. Penelope Seidler, herself an architect, gained her Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Sydney and joined Seidler and Associates in 1964 as architect and financial manager. She co-designed the Harry and Penelope Seidler House in Killara which won the Wilkinson Award in 1967.
Interests Seidler enjoyed photographing architecture around the world and some of these are documented in his photography book The Grand Tour. He also enjoyed skiing.
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