The lifework of the Austrian-born American architect Richard Joseph Neutra (1892-1970) was an attempt to combine the technical precision of the International Style with other elements more organic to American architectural traditions.

Richard Neutra was born in Vienna on April 8, 1892. He trained at the Technische Hochschule, receiving his diploma in 1917. While there he was greatly influenced by the buildings and writings of a contemporary Viennese architect, Adolf Loos, one of the pioneers of the modern movement in Europe. Loos introduced Neutra to innovations occurring in American architecture, particularly the experiments of Louis Sullivan and the Chicago school. Neutra's interest in American architecture grew when he became familiar with the work of Frank Lloyd Wright.

In 1918 Neutra went to Switzerland, working as a landscape architect and city planner. In 1921 he moved to Lukenwalde, Germany, to serve in the Municipal Building Office. The next year he became associated with Erich...