Isi Metzstein
| Isi Metzstein | |
|---|---|
| Born |
July 7, 1928 Berlin, Germany |
| Died | January 10, 2012 (aged 83) Glasgow, Scotland. |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Spouse(s) | Danielle Kahn |
| Partner(s) | Andy MacMillan |
| Practice | Gillespie, Kidd & Coia |
| Buildings | St Peter's Seminary, Cardross |
Isi Israel Metzstein (7 July 1928 - 10 January 2012) was a German-born architect who worked at Gillespie, Kidd & Coia and taught at the Glasgow School of Art. He became known for his postwar architectural designs working in the European modernist style of Le Corbusier and the American Frank Lloyd Wright.
Isi Metzstein was born in the Mitte district of Berlin in 1928, one of five children. His parents, Efraim and Rachel Metzstein, were Polish Jews who had moved to Germany in 1920. Isi had an older sister, Lee, an older brother, Josef, a twin sister, Jenny, and a younger brother, Leo, In 1933, Isi's father, Efraim, passed away leaving his mother to raise the five children on her own.
In November 1938, after Kristallnacht had seen Isi's school set on fire, his mother saw to it that her children were kept safe by sending the 11-year-old Isi and his siblings to Britain on the Kindertransport. With his brothers and sisters scattered around the UK, Isi was taken in by a family in Hardgate, Clydebank before they could all be reunited once more, eventually settling in Glasgow.
After leaving Hyndland School in 1945, Isi's professional career as an architect began with taking evening classes in architecture at the Glasgow School of Art and an apprenticeship under Jack Coia at Gillespie, Kidd & Coia. Whilst at the Glasgow School of Art, Isi met Andy MacMillan and the two became friends, often going for drinks together in the Kings Arms on Elmbank Street.
When Andy MacMillan joined the firm in 1954, the pair designed many churches, colleges & schools together in the Modernist style.
In 1969, Isi began teaching at the Glasgow School of Art. and became Professor of Architecture at the University of Edinburgh in 1984 before returning to teach in Glasgow in 1991.
Isi married Danielle Kahn in 1967 and the pair had three children, Mark, Saul and Ruth.
He died on 10 January 2012 at their home in Hillhead, Glasgow.
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