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the complete review - architecture

The Wittgenstein House

by
Bernhard Leitner

general information | review summaries | our review | links | about the author

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Our Assessment:

-- : very attractive survey, good introduction

See our review for fuller assessment.

  From the Reviews:

• "Valuable insights are provided by Leitner's 'Tractatus'-style epithets, which refute the oft attempted comparison between Wittgenstein' philosophical writings and the building. Leitner would like to perpetuate the myth that the Villa owes nothing to historical context, that Wittgenstein did not allow any curtains or carpets to cover his architecture, that the design is autonomous, This approach runs counter to recent research by Paul Wijdeveld" - Wilfried Wang, Architectural Review
  
  
• "Er dokumentiert und rekonstruiert jedes Problem,mit dessen Lösung der Architekt befaßt war, einzeln, bis zu den schnabelartigen Schnappverschlüssen zur Arretierung von Doppeltüren. Das Ergebnis solch minutiöser Recherche ist beachtlich. Denn, anders als der modernistische Gesamteindruck nahelegt, sind diese Entwürfe, ist das ganze Haus von einer gegendie Moderne gerichteten Haltung geprägt -- allein durch die Tatsache, daß Ludwig Wittgenstein keinerlei Serienfertigung zuließ, jedes Baudetail ein nicht auswechselbares Einzelstück ist." - Hennig Ritter, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

Please note that these ratings solely represent the complete review's biased interpretation and subjective opinion of the actual reviews and do not claim to accurately reflect or represent the views of the reviewers. Similarly the illustrative quotes chosen here are merely those the complete review subjectively believes represent the tenor and judgment of the review as a whole. We acknowledge (and remind and warn you) that they may, in fact, be entirely unrepresentative of the actual reviews by any other measure.

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The complete review's Review:

       Ludwig Wittgenstein is best known as a philosopher, but he was not solely an ivory-tower academic. Born into an incredibly wealthy family, he -- among other things -- studied engineering, became a school teacher, and fought in World War I. Among his most famous forays outside philosophy was the house he built (together with Loos-student Paul Engelmann) for his sister, Margarethe Stonborough, in Vienna's Kundmanngasse in the 1920s.
       Bernhard Leitner's book offers an impressive introduction to that undertaking, as well as the history of the house since -- specifically the efforts to preserve it when it was threatened (and had largely been forgotten) in the late 1960s and 1970s. Eventually bought by the Bulgarian government, it has served as their cultural institute in Vienna, for the most part saving the building, though some alterations were made to it (unforgivably, in Leitner's opinion).
       The book is an excellent documentation of the house: original plans, many pages from Wittgenstein's pocket photo album, as well as many photographs taken by Leitner give an excellent sense of what Wittgenstein accomplished here, and what he was trying to do. Leitner offers glimpses and discussions of all different parts of the house, trying especially to present Wittgenstein's original vision. Since some walls have been torn down the contemporary photographs can't convey the original perfectly, but Leitner does a very good job of suggesting and explaining how the original looked. (He is also unsparing in his criticism of most of the alterations that were made. About one reconfigured space he writes, for example: "Architectural nonsense emerged out of Wittgenstein's sense of space".)
       Leitner repeatedly emphasises Wittgenstein's attention to detail, down to the beak-like catches that secured the window leaves when they were open, and there are photographs of most of these elements. He convincingly demonstrates that:

In Wittgenstein's architecture details cannot be separated from the whole, they are interdependent. Each element of his architecture, such as the floor grille for the heating, the metal door, the dining room wall or the door handle, is aesthetically self-contained.

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Links:

• Hatje Cantz Verlag publicity page

• Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (German)

• Haus Wittgenstein at nextroom (German)
• Article in The Guardian

• Ludwig Wittgenstein page at the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• The Wittgenstein Archive
• Internationale Ludwig Wittgenstein Gesellschaft
• Austrian Ludwig Wittgenstein Society

• Bernhard Leitner site

• [Nana Last's Wittgenstein's House: Language, Space, and Architecture]
• Suzanne Leblanc's Wittgenstein's house-inspired novel, The Thought House of Philippa
• [Alexander Waugh finds A Family at War in The House of Wittgenstein]
• Richard Wall's account of Wittgenstein in Ireland
• David Edmond's and John Eidinow's story of Wittgenstein's Poker
• Terry Eagleton's script, Ludwig Wittgenstein
• Derek Jarman's film, Wittgenstein

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About the Author:

       Austrian artist Bernhard Leitner was born in 1938.

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© 2003-2022 the complete review

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