Alfred Keller

Austrian Alfred Keller was an architect, painter and graphic artist. He studied in Graz until 1898 and then went to Wien (Vienna) at the beginning of the 20th century, where he presided over the Hagenbund from 1912-17. Keller toured the United States and Spain after World War I. In 1930 he was named full professor at the Technische Hochschule in Wien. He was a productive architect and created residential and commercial buildings, villas and hotels, industrial buildings and factories, as well as interiors. He was a representative of home style with references to the Southern German Homeland Security movement. As the designer of the World Trade University Keller was prominent in Wien’s architectural history. As a creative artist, he designed book and catalogue covers and posters, while as a painter, he worked in oil paintings and watercolors.

In 1932, two pools were built for hotels in Semmering: in 1932-1934 the Alpenstrandbad by Liebe and Stigler and in 1932 the swimming pool of the Südbahnhotel by Emil Hoppe and Otto Schönthal. It could not be confirmed whether Keller provided a draft for either one. The only bath which was known to be built based on his design together with his partner Walter Broßmann, was in the city of Krems from 1931, but it was demolished in late 1976.