Paul László
| Paul László | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
February 6, 1900 Debrecen, Austria-Hungary |
| Died | March 27, 1993 (aged 93) Santa Monica, California |
| Nationality | Hungarian, American |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Buildings |
Crown Center |
Crown Center
Bullock's Wilshire
Air Force Bomb Shelter
Ohrbach's
Paul László or Paul Laszlo (6 February 1900 – 27 March 1993) was a Hungarian-born modern architect and interior designer whose work spanned eight decades and many countries. László built his reputation while designing interiors for houses, but in the 1960s, largely shifted his focus to the design of retail and commercial interiors.
He was born (as László Pál) in Debrecen, Hungary, to László Ignác and László Regina (née Soros). His family later moved to Szombathely, Hungary. Sources citing his birthplace as Budapest are incorrect. He had three sisters and two brothers; two of his sisters and both of his parents died in the Holocaust along with seven other relatives not in his immediate family.
László completed his education in Vienna, Austria before moving to Stuttgart, Germany, where he rapidly established himself as a prominent designer, winning the admiration of, among others, Salvador Dalí. However, the rising tide of anti-semitism and Nazism made László's position precarious in Europe due to his Jewish ancestry. In 1936 he fled Europe for the United States to escape the Nazis. Ironically, and without László's knowledge, some of his work appeared in Adolf Hitler's Eagle's Nest (the Kehlsteinhaus) near Berchtesgaden which infuriated Albert Speer, chief architect of the Third Reich and close advisor to Hitler. This convinced László he had to leave his family, his practice and his friends because Europe was no longer safe for him. He applied for and accepted a professorship teaching architecture at the Universidad Tecnica Federico Santa Maria in Chile. However, never intending to go to South America, László was hidden by friends of his until he was able to get passage on an oceanliner, which was not headed to South America, but rather New York City.
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Wikipedia