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Basic Biographic Details
Name:
Alexander Koch
Designation :
Architect
Date of Birth:
Year Only
Exact DOB:
26/09/1925
Year of Birth :
1848
Circa Year of Birth :
Date of Birth Before (Year):
Date of Birth After (Year):
DOB (1st 'Or' Year):
DOB (2nd 'Or' Year):
Orig Date of Death
1911/05
Date of Death:
Date Not Known
Exact DOD:
26/09/1925
Year of Death:
Circa Year of Death:
Date of Death Before (Year):
Date of Death After (Year):
DOD (1st 'Or' Year):
DOD (2nd 'Or' Year):
Town of Birth :
Bio Notes :
Alexander Koch was born in Zurich in 1848. From 1867 until 1870 he attended the architectural school at Eidgenöss, Switzerland from which he obtained a place in the office of Gottfried Semper in Vienna working on competition designs for the Ringstrasse. In 1870-71 he studied at the architectural school in Berlin, returning to Zurich in the latter year to commence practice in partnership with Heinrich Ernst as Koch & Ernst.
In 1885 Koch withdrew from the partnership to settle in London where he attended the South Kensington Schools as a visitor to gain an understanding of art and architectural education in England. He appears to have formed a partnership with the perspectivist Charles William English in 1890 for entering the competition for the Copenhagen Rathus.
Although he continued to practice in Zurich in the late 1880s and early 1890s, he commenced a new career as an architectural publisher as editor-proprietor of 'Academy Architecture and Architectural Review' in 1889 with Charles William English assisting with the drawings. This quickly developed into two volumes a year comprising representative selections of work exhibited at the Royal Academy, the Royal Scottish Academy and the Royal Glasgow Institute, and selected works from continental academies. In 1905-10 Koch published in parallel 'British Competitions in Architecture' which included the premiated designs, any others which caught Koch's interest, and assessors' reports.
Koch died in May 1911. The management of Academy Architecture was taken over by his son A E (Hugh) Koch who excluded Royal Scottish Academy and Royal Glasgow Institute exhibits from subsequent issues.
Although the family was Swiss and not German, Hugh and his brother Neil found it necessary to change their name to Martin-Kaye during the First World War. Hugh founded the parallel periodical publication 'Architecture Illustrated' and continued publishing 'Academy Architecture' in association with B T Batsford until the depression of 1931. These later issues were restricted to London Royal Academy exhibits and examples of building types selected from invited materials almost wholly English with occasional examples of American and colonial work. Neil Martin-Kaye was also an architect and became first principal of Southend School of Architecture.
Bio Notes continued...
Additional Notes
Addresses
The following private or business addresses are associated with this person:
Business Addresses
Business Addresses2 classic
Address
Class
Date From
Date From Type
Date To
Date To Type
Notes
London England
Business
Zurich Switzerland
Business
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References
Bibliographic References
The following books contain references to this person:
Bib ref classic
Author
Title
Date
Publisher
Part
Notes
Gray, A Stuart
Edwardian Architecture: A Biographical Dictionary
1985
Academy Architecture
1890
p81
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Periodical References
The following periodicals contain references to this person:
Period ref classic
Periodical Name
Publisher
Date Circ
Edition
Notes
Builder
1911/05/12
*
Obituary of Alexander Koch
Builder
1954/12/03
*
Obituary of Hugh Martin-Kaye
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