Draft:Imric Porsolt

Imric Porsolt
Born	1909 (1909) Pozony, Hungary
Died	2005 (aged 95–96)
Education	Czech Technical University
Occupation	Architect
Buildings	1ZB building, Pollard House

Imric Voytich Porsolt (1909-2005) was a Jewish-Hungarian architect, lecturer and art critic who lived in Auckland, New Zealand for most his life. He lectured at the Auckland School of Architecture for over two decades and wrote for publications such as The New Zealand Herald, Auckland Star, Home & Building and Landfall.

Early life

Imric Porsolt was born in Pozony, Hungary (now Bratislava, Slovakia) in 1909. Living in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, he learnt both Hungarian and German. Porsolt graduated from the Czech Technical University in Prague in 1935, at a time where classical revivalism was peaking. Simultaneously, several avant garde art and architecture movements were growing and modernism was catching on as a depature from traditionalism. In a letter to the editor of the New Zealand Listener, Porsolt describes how he was "brought up in an anti-Beaux Arts, anti-axial design spirit."

After graduating, Porsolt married his first wife Gerda Porzsoltova and carried out two years of compulsory military service. He then began to practice as an interior architect. On March 15, 1939, the couple fled to Holland, just three days after Hilter's annexation of Czechoslovakia. The couple went to England and were accepted as refugees by New Zealand, moving to Auckland in June, 1939.

Career

Architecture

In 1939, Porsolt was contracted by Alva Bartley to design the flagship for the radio station 1ZB on Durham Street West. This was facilitated by Morris van Staveren from the Jewish Welfare Society soon after Porsolt's arrival in New Zealand, as Bartely wanted a modern European approach to the building. The building's style lends itself to rondo-cubism and Art Deco, giving a modernist, European flair to the New Zealand context. The staircase of the building was most evident of rondo-cubism. The staircase was curved and cantilevered and, according to Porsolt, was expressive of human movement. Porsolt was very enamoured by winding staircases, as to him they represented progress, new spaces and liberation. A pegasus sits above the staircase in 1ZB, introducing a classical motif in a modern setting. Porsolt used an extensive amount of glass bricks to create the modern foyer, which was the most discussed aspect of the building upon its opening in 1941. In 1990, the building was demolished.

Porsolt worked in the construction firm Noel Cole designing interiors, then worked as a chief draughtsman for Gummer & Ford and then for the firm Alleman & Land. He was friends with fellow architects Vladimir Čačala and Heinrich Kulka, all Czech émigrés. He tried his hand at private practice whilst he was teaching and had many commissions from clients interested in good design. One of his first house's commissioned was in 1956, for fellow Czech émigré Robert Goodman, and this was also published in Home and Building. The house took the form of a Central European modernist villa and drew no comparisons to New Zealand design.

The Pollard House, designed by Porsolt in Titirangi, New Zealand, was constructed in 1962. It was included in Bill McKay and Douglas Lloyd-Jenkin's list of top 50 houses in New Zealand in the 20th century. The house was designed to merge with the landscape, curving around the hill it sits upon. Its windows give a panoramic view of the bush.

Porsolt's architectural career remained posterior to his teaching at the University of Auckland.

Teaching

Post WWII, work was scarce for Porsolt as an architect. He worked part-time as a teacher at the Auckland University School of Architecture in the 1940s, then became full-time from 1950 until 1974. Porsolt was the school's first European émigré teacher. He taught architectural history and design studio. His predecessors had been criticised by students, led by the Architectural Group, about the limitations of the curriculum and the poor studio teaching. Porsolt was hired to address these issues and approached teaching with the inclusion of many histories, be that African, Chinese, Japanese and Persian methods. He was significant is the modernisation of history and theory at the Auckland School.

Upon retiring, Porsolt was asked to published 12 of his lectures on architectural history by the School of Architecture.

Art Critic

Porsolt's first published article was in Home and Building in 1950, where his design for a two storey house made the cover. He was a productive art critic, writing for The New Zealand Herald, The Auckland Star, Home & Building, and Landfall. His writing tried to educate his readers, putting local art and architecture into an international context. He was wary of nationalism and a supporter of abstraction in painting. He also used his writing to engage with debates about heritage sites such as Saint Mary's Cathedral in Parnell and Victoria Arcade on Queen Street.

Colin McCahon said of Porsolt that, "before the advent of Mr. Porsolt there was no criticism in New Zealand."

Legacy

Porsolt died in 2005. His gravestone is engraved with the phrase 'Messenger of Modernism'.