Extract
Thousands of cultural pilgrims visit the Mozart and Freud houses in Vienna each year, but there are also a few philosophical pilgrims who visit the Wittgenstein house—not, of course, to see where Ludwig Wittgenstein lived, but to see the house he designed for his sister Margaret Stonborough‐Wittgenstein in 1926. The house, now partially altered for use as an art gallery and cultural offices by the Bulgarian Embassy, has already been the subject of numerous articles and two important books: Bernhard Leitner's collection of documents, photographs, and architectural analysis (The Architecture of Ludwig Wittgenstein: A Documen[ta]tion[Wiley‐Academy, 1995]), and Paul Wijdeveld's careful detailing of the house's design and construction (Ludwig Wittgenstein, Architect[Thames & Hudson, 1994]). Now two new books that focus on the relationship of the house's architecture to Wittgenstein's philosophy have appeared within a year of each other. From early on many people have seen the house's severe geometry and lack of ornament as a reflection of either Adolf Loos's modernism or the bare style of the Tractatus or both. Roger Paden shows that the house is neither. As Paden points out, Loos prided himself on his innovative, multilevel spatial plans and covered his interiors with rich materials and patterns, whereas Wittgenstein's interior is bare and the plan retains such features of traditional Viennese layout as a central entry hall. As for its spare style resembling the Tractatus, as contemporaries like Georg Henrik von Wright or Wittgenstein's sister Hermine thought (she called it “a house turned logic”), both Paden and Nana Last set out to show that the connection of the house to Wittgenstein's philosophy and beliefs is much deeper.
