Zucker, Paul

Paul Zucker was born in Berlin, the son of a medical company officer. He studied architecture and art history in Munich and Berlin, earning both an engineering degree and a doctorate. The combination of theory and practice accompanied Zucker throughout his time in Berlin. After employment by the Schinkel Museum and a teaching post at the private Lessing-Hochschule, Zucker went into business on his own in 1919 and subsequently worked successfully as an architect, theoretician, journalist and teacher. Zucker’s architectural works included villas and country houses for the Jewish upper middle classes as well as commercial buildings and store interiors.
In 1935 Zucker was stripped of his professional license and dismissed by the Lessing-Hochschule. With the help of an official invitation from the New School for Social Research he was able to immigrate in 1937 to New York, whereas several members of his family were deported and perished. In 1938 Zucker was appointed to a position at Cooper Union art school in New York. Thus began his life-long second career as a university professor and author of a number of scholarly books. In 1968 Zucker was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.