Leopold Bauer

Leopold Bauer, a native of Czechoslovakia, studied at the State Vocational School in Brno and under Otto Wagner architecture in Vienna. He was a representative of the radical modernist architectural school. Over the years, he departed from modernism. His first assignments were country houses in Moravia and castles restorations. From 1911- he designed his best known work, the neoclassical Austrian National Bank in Vienna, and from 1913-19 he was head of the Special School of Architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts. Pressure from leftist politicians forced him to give up this position. He also published frequently about architectural issues.

According to his catalog of works, the submitted project is the “German Gymnasium, Jägerndorf, Silesia” from 1932-33. The construction of the gymnastic ground with gymnasium for the gymnasts of Krnov (in German Jägerndorf) was financed by collections; the city provided the property. The building combined traditional with modernist elements, while the latter clearly prevailed in the first drafts. The rectangular surfaces of the gable were decorated with the four Fs (Frisch, Fromm, Fröhlich, Frei; in English Fresh, Pious, Cheerful, Free), the motto of the gymnasts until the end of the war.