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Kovacic, Viktor
(b Locka Vas, nr Rogatica, 28 July 1874; d Zagreb, 21 Oct 1924). Croatian architect and teacher. He studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule, Graz, and also qualified as a bricklayer. In 1891 he worked for the contractor Gjuro Carnelutti in Zagreb and then joined the studio of Hermann Bolle in Zagreb, where he worked on the restoration of churches. In 1896 he attended Otto Wagner’s Spezialschule für Architektur, Vienna, graduating with Joseph Maria Olbrich, Josef Hoffmann and Jan Kotera, all leading members of the Vienna Secession. However, Kovacic’s contemporary diploma project (unexecuted) for Orianda Castle, a summer palace in the Crimea, reveals that he was not totally committed to Secession ideas. In 1899 he returned to Zagreb where historicism still prevailed, and he joined the progressive group led by the painter Vlaho Bukovac. In 1905 Kovacic won competitions for the design of King Tomislav Square, Zagreb, and the Rossija-Fonsier insurance office, in Belgrade, both unexecuted. He then founded the Club of Croatian Architects in order to reinforce his struggle against conservatism. In 1906 he produced another competition plan, this time to develop the site of the recently demolished western wall of the medieval fortress around Zagreb Cathedral. This plan, which incorporated many progressive ideas, won first prize but was not executed. From 1909 to 1918 Kovacic worked in partnership with HUGO EHRLICH, who had been an associate of Adolf Loos in Vienna, and together they introduced Loos’s ideas to Croatia, particularly his admiration for the Arts and Crafts Movement. Their approach is evident in several joint works, including the Villa Franges (1912) and Villa Vrbanic (1913) in Zagreb, where particular attention was paid to the interiors, and the Frank House (1913–14), Mazuranic Square, Zagreb, with projecting eaves, arcaded loggias and rustication. Other buildings by Kovacic include the church of St Blaise (1912; see CROATIA, fig. 2), Zagreb; its Greek-cross plan and reinforced-concrete dome recalled Dalmatian and Byzantine traditions. His most monumental work is the Stock Exchange in Zagreb, begun in 1923 and completed by Ehrlich (1923–4); of refined proportions and stripped classicism, its planning was thoroughly functional. In 1923 Kovacic became a professor at the High Technical School in Zagreb where he was highly influential on several generations of Croatian architects. He was awarded, posthumously, the Grand Prix at the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris (1925).
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