(b Riga, 25 May 1880; d Portland, OR, 21 July 1967). Latvian architect. He studied (1889–1906) at the Riga Polytechnical Institute and while still a student began work in the office of Konstantins Peksens. From 1907 he practiced independently. Laube’s official roles included assistant professor at the Polytechnical Institute (1907–19), Professor of the Faculty of Architecture at the Latvian University, Riga (from 1920), Dean of the faculty (1919–22, 1932–4 and 1938–40), as well as Rector of the university (1922). From 1909 to 1914 he was the official adviser to the Commission for Artistic Issues in Architecture, in Riga. He was also chairman of the Latvian Architects’ Society (1924–6). In 1944 he emigrated to Germany where he worked as Professor of Architecture at the Baltic University, Pinneberg, near Hamburg; from 1950 he lived in the USA. The majority of Laube’s projects, which included around 90 multi-storey masonry apartment blocks, were executed in Riga. Before World War I he was one of the pioneers of Riga Art Nouveau, as in the richly decorated apartment building at 23 Tallinas Street (1901; with Peksens). His best-known Art Nouveau works are in the National Romantic version of the style, for example the apartment houses at 47 Brivibas Street and 11 Alberta Street (both 1908). He also reflected other trends of Art Nouveau, as in the apartment block with shops at 85 Brivibas Street (1912), where the verticality of the composition is emphasized; or in other apartment blocks (e.g. 37 Caka Street, 1913), where he added Neo-classical elements. Of prime significance was his call for the exclusive use of natural materials in the facing of façades. While often associated with a Functionalist vocabulary, as in the apartment block with shops at 39 Brivibas Street (1929), during the years of Latvian independence he mainly used a Neo-classical approach, as in the sanatorium at Kemeri, Jurmala (1933), and the festival hall in Riga Castle (1938).

• Laube, Eizens
  • Riga