Walter Adolph Gropius (1883 - 1969)

Walter Adolph Gropius was born in Berlin , Germany in 1883 as the son of an architect. He received his architectural education in Munich and later worked for Peter Behrens, one of the most important European architects of the time.  In 1910, Gropius left his job with Peter Behrens and established a partnership with Hannes Meyer. This partnership lasted for nearly fifteen years. During this time Gropius designed many famous buildings including the Fagus factory in Alfeld-an-der-Leine(1911) and the Werkbund Exhibition Building in Cologne (1914). In 1919, Gropius established the School of Bauhaus in Weimar . However because of his original building techniques his ideas were condemned forcing the school’s relocation to Dessau . The building in which the school moved to was designed by Gropius himself. When Adolph Hitler rose to power in 1933, Gropius along with many others was forced to leave Germany . He fled to England and in 1937 moved to the United States . He then was professor of architecture at Harvard University from 1938 to 1952. During the last part of his life, Walter Gropius designed many more buildings including the Harvard Graduate Center , the American Embassy in Athens , the University of Baghdad , and the Pan Am Building . He died at the age of 85 in the year 1969.