Rudolph Schindler's Church School Lecture on Decoration (1916): A Preliminary Reading

Abstract

The primary aim of this paper is to contribute to the task of identifying and discussing the original ideas put forward by Rudolph Schindler in his writings. This paper examines a lecture on decoration given by Schindler in 1916, the notes for which have survived in an unpublished manuscript (the ‘Church School Lectures’) in the University of California, Santa Barbara Archive. Containing notes for 11 lectures, this manuscript contains Schindler’s most extended and theoretical discussions on architecture. This paper offers the first transcription of these notes, and provides a commentary that contextualises Schindler’s thought at this period. Schindler’s views represent two important advances on the architectural thinking developed by Adolf Loos and Frank Lloyd Wright: first, articulating a new sense of decoration as material and texture; and secondly, the direct abutment of materials eliminating the need for facings at their connection.