Antonin Nechodoma was a Polish architect 1877-1928 born in Prague then a part of Bohemia.

From an early age he appreciated architecture. He came to Chicago in 1900 and helped build some of the old structures as a contractor.

Antonin Nechodoma aka Antonio Nechodoma is a controversial architect some say a plagiarist.

He was a great admirer of Frank Lloyd Wright and the Prairie style. He has even said that he was a student of Frank Lloyd Wright. The two actually never met.

An architect of other styles in his own right, he brought the Prairie Style architecture to Florida, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic.

He began his practice in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic in 1907. From 1916-1924 he built some 25 structures in Puerto Rico alone.

He is most famous for Casa Roig Humacao, Puerto Rico(c1919).

Built for sugarcane plantation owner and Puerto Rican businessman Antonio Roig. The house is now owned by the Banco Popular, Puerto Rico.

It is said that banker Antonio Roig paid Nechodoma so much money for Casa Roig House that Nechodoma didnt have to build anymore structures.

The over all designs of Nechodoma homes in Puerto Rico resemble the work of architect Frank Lloyd Wright and the Prairie School of Architecture.

Check out Antonin Nechodoma a photostudy and judge for yourself!


RiCO

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Good Morning Rico,
Thank you for your rendition of the fellow you spoke and it is good to see other names and works of the same.
Would it be possible for you to take some pictures to share with us on the forum?

I know I would be gratified if you did and I am quite sure that others would as well.

Thanks again respectfully,

Ralph Jones

Good Morning Ralph,

My objective in writing a short essay on Antonin Nechodoma is to bring attention to a very controversial subject and figure in the architectural world of then and now.

I happen to run into this architect while researching S.H. Foulks jr. early 20th century metal artist (S. H. Foulks jr.topic metal art forum, hammered copper box c1910 miami Florida. Hand signed: made by S.H.Foulks jr. miami).

Antonin Nechodoma was a proponent of the arts and crafts movement, and the Prairie School style architectual movement going on in the midwest and the northeast in America.

He brought the Prairie style to Florida and the Caribbean in the early 1900's.

Evidence of this is little known, but there was an arts and crafts colony of bungalows long before the Chicago/N.Y based architects created the art deco district in Miami Beach, and predates Dade County,Florida Bungalows.

That's where the box ties in (an arts and crafts artifact) to the fact of an arts and crafts movement in Miami Beach, Florida and the timing of Nechodoma's practice in Florida, and the caribbean.

The controversy lies with the relationship between Frank Lloyd Wright and Nechodoma,the simularity of the designs of Frank Lloyd Wright and the timing of designs and construction of the Prairie sytle homes in Puerto Rico by architect Antonin Nechodoma.

Some argue that Antonin Nechodoma is the father of Puerto Rican architecture. This I doubt very much personally. The fathers of puerto rican architecture came with the arrival of columbus and it's 13th/14th century spanish colonial style and medieval military architecture. Such as El Morro and Old San Juan..etc Some of the finest and oldest architecture that you'll find in the new world.

All of this is based upon my research and the research of others.

RiCO