Friedrich Eisenhofer

Emigrating from Austria to New Zealand around 1953, Fritz Eisenhofer immediately began work on housing. Joining the Housing Division of the Ministry of Works, supervised by Friedrich Neumann (1900–1964), Fritz worked on seminal Modern housing designs including the Star Block Apartments and prototype "expandable houses" built for the Parades of Homes events in 1957.

In 1958, Fritz teamed up with an Austrian colleague in the Ministry, Erwin Winkler (b.1928), to form the architectural practice Winkler & Eisenhofer. They established an office in Cuba Street in Wellington and produced, as Tanja Poppelreuter has described, elegant houses, "examples of internationally inspired modernism, adapted to New Zealand conditions, that lack those elements that were perceived as characteristics of a distinct New Zealand architecture" (p.876).

The pair’s elegant aesthetic was often sought for the design of new cafe’s. Wellington’s emerging cosmopolitan coffee scene included hot spots such as Chez Lilly (Dixon Street, 1959) and Suzy’s Coffee Lounge (Willis Street, 1964). This cafe was immortalised in Rita Angus’s 1967 painting 'At Suzy’s Coffee Lounge'. Their practice continued until 1969 when each went into solo practice.

Fritz’s houses on the coast north of Wellington are highly sought after. The most notable of these is his own, experimental, ferro-cement dome house, built in the early 1990s. The Eisenhofer’s interest in 'earth shelters,' had begun in the 1980s. After attending the first World Solar Congress (Perth, 1983), they resolved to build their very own 'earth ship' in Peka Peka. Largely submerged into sand dunes, the house collects solar heat via the exposed sections of the dome(s) surfaced with faceted glass. Throughout summer heat is gathered into a swimming pool and concrete masses, ready to release the heat again through the cooled winter months.

Eisenhofer was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to architecture in 2010. He passed away at his home at Peka Peka on 27 July 2023, aged 96.

See also:

• Poppelreuter, Tanja, ‘Changing Places: New Zealand Houses by Winkler & Eisenhofer 1958 to 1969’, The Journal of Architecture, 18.6 (2013), pp. 875–904, doi:10.1080/13602365.2013.859167
• Friz Eisenhofer - wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Eisenhofer
• Tommy Honey, 'Houses Revisited: Dome house', ArchitectureNow, 26 Jun 2020. https://architecturenow.co.nz/articles/houses-revisited-dome-house/
• https://www.nzia.co.nz/explore/news/2023/friedrich-fritz-eisenhofer-1926-2023