Dion Neutra

Name

Neutra, Dion

Personal Information

Birth/Death:    
Occupation:    American architect
Location (state):    CA

This record has not been verified for accuracy.

AIA Affiliation

Member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) 1951-

Biographical Sources

American Architects Directories:
Biographical listing in 1956 American Architects Directory
Repeat of 1956 biographical listing in 1962 American Architects Directory
Biographical listing in 1970 American Architects Directory
Biographical Information:
Contributed by Special Collections, Robert E. Kennedy Library, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Influential architect Richard Neutra was born in Vienna, Austria, on April 8, 1892, the youngest of four children. In 1917, he graduated from the Technische Hochschule in Vienna. In 1922, he married Dione Niedermann, who was born on April 14, 1901. With his bride, Neutra moved to the U.S. in 1923, eventually joining his college friend, noted architect Rudolf Schindler, in southern California. Neutra's most important early work, the "Health House," was built in Los Angeles for Dr. P.M. Lovell in 1927-29. Neutra's work through the 1930s and 1940s advanced the International style, leading to the creation of his masterwork, the Kaufmann House in Palm Springs, in 1946-47. He died on April 16, 1970, in Wuppertal, Germany. Dione Neutra died in Los Angeles on September 1, 1990.
      Dion Neutra is the second son of Richard and Dione Niedermann Neutra, born in California on October 8, 1926. He began work at the age of 11 in his father's office, eventually graduating cum laude from the University of Southern California. After graduation, he went to work full-time at the family firm, Richard and Dion Neutra Architecture, where he continues to practice as of this writing (August 2008). Neutra states that his "current interest, and principal focus, is to work on the preservation and adaptation of Neutra projects with a view to conserving as many of these icons as possible in the face of their attrition in the name of progress and change."
      Sources:
    "Dion Neutra, Architect," http://neutra.org/consultingcont.html
    California Birth Index, 1905-1995, Ancestry.com

Related Records

Son of Richard J. Neutra

Archival Holdings

The American Institute of Architects Archives
      Membership file may contain membership application, related correspondence. Membership files of living persons are not available. Contact the AIA Archives at archives@aia.org for further information.
Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA
      Richard and Dion Neutra Papers
      Finding aid available online at http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf7d5nb4js/
Special Collections, Robert E. Kennedy Library, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
      Neutra Notebook Collection, c. 1950, MS 140
      This collection contains a bound volume with holographic notes, probably in the hand of noted architect Richard Neutra's son, Dion, relating to the proposed move of the family's architectural practice to Glendale, California, c. 1950. Neutra is referred to in the third person throughout (generally as "RJN"), and his wife, Dione, is referred to as "Mother" at least once in the text, which comprises the first 6 remaining leaves of the notebook (chiefly rectos only, in pencil; with a pencil sketch on verso of second leaf). The remainder of notebook is blank except for the last 5 leaves, which contain sketches of televisions and radios.
      Pro/con arguments for the move are listed in two sections — one headed "Possibility I if office must move to Glendale" and the other "Possibility II if office is moved to Glendale." There are references to "VDL," the Neutra VDL Research House I, designed and built in 1932 on Silver Lake Boulevard. The house is named after Cornelius H. van de Leeuw, a Dutch industrialist who met Neutra in Europe and offered to make him a loan so that the young architect could build an experimental house for himself and his family. An electrical fire destroyed the house in 1963, and the Neutra VDL Research House II, now owned by Cal Poly Pomona, replaced it.
      Also included in the collection is a typescript of the last letter Dione Niedermann wrote to Richard Neutra before their wedding, dated December 16, 1922.
      Link to online finding aid at: http://lib.calpoly.edu/specialcollections/findingaids/ms140/

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