{{Short description|Austrian-born American architect (1911–1994)}} {{Infobox architect | name = Alfred Preis | image = Alfred_Preis_-_architect_in_Honolulu.jpg | image_size = <!-- if image is smaller than 250px --> | caption = Alfred Preis | birth_date = {{Birth date|1911|02|02}}<ref name="KIT">{{cite web | editor-first=Benjamin | editor-last=Wicky | trans-title=Architects in exile 1933-45 - Biographies - Preis, Alfred | url=http://kg.ikb.kit.edu/english/arch-exil/428.php | title=Architekten im Exil 1933-45 - Biografien - Preis, Alfred | publisher=Karlsruhe Institute of Technology | access-date=2013-10-26 | location=Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany | language=de | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029201438/http://kg.ikb.kit.edu/english/arch-exil/428.php | archive-date=2013-10-29 | url-status=dead | website=kit.edu/kit/english}}</ref> | birth_place = Vienna, Austria-Hungary | death_date = {{Death date and age|1994|03|29|1911|02|02}}<ref name="Altonn 1994-03-31 p. 3">{{cite news |last=Altonn |first=Helen |title=Alfred Preis, isle architect, dies at age 83 |newspaper=Honolulu Star-Bulletin |date=1994-03-31 |oclc=9188300 |page=3 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/273863735/ |url-access=subscription |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> | death_place = Honolulu, Hawaii | alma_mater = Vienna Technical University | influences = | influenced = | practice = Redlich und Berger in Austria, then Dahl and Conrad, Hart Wood, Associated Architects, and his own office in Honolulu | significant_buildings = USS Arizona Memorial, the entrance of the Honolulu Zoo, the First United Methodist Church, ILWU headquarters (all in Honolulu) | significant_projects = | significant_design = | awards = National AIA award for Arizona Memorial and the First Methodist Church, AIA Chapter Awards for the Gustav Ecke Residence, James Harrison Residence, ILWU Addition<ref name="UHM">{{cite web |url=http://manoa.hawaii.edu/planning/Campus%20Heritage%20Report-%20University_of_Hawaii_Getty_Report.pdf |title=University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Campus Heritage Report |year=2008 |website=manoa.hawaii.edu |publisher=The Heritage Center, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, School of Architecture |location=Honolulu, HI |at=3:37 (section 3.8.10 Alfred Preis) |access-date=2013-10-26}}</ref><br/>Special Citation for Contribution to the Environment<ref name="Radford">{{cite book |last1=Radford |first1=Georgia |last2=Radford |first2=Warren |last3=Golt |first3=Rick |year=1978 |title=Sculpture in the sun : Hawaii's art for open spaces |location=Honolulu, HI |publisher=University Press of Hawaii |page=95 |isbn=9780824805265 |oclc=4005107}}</ref> }} '''Alfred Preis''' (February 2, 1911 – March 29, 1994) was an Austrian-born American architect best known for designing the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor.
==Early years in Austria== Born and raised in Vienna, Austria, Preis spent his early architecture career in Vienna. He studied at the Vienna Technical University, earned his Architecture diploma in 1938, and worked as a site manager for Redlich and Berger and as a freelance designer for interiors, furniture and store fronts. Although of Jewish background, he converted to Roman Catholicism in 1936. Newlywed, he and his wife fled Austria in 1939 in the face of the German annexation of his homeland and emigrated to the U.S. with the help of the Catholic Refugee Association.<ref name="KIT"/><ref name="Dotson">{{cite book |last=Dotson |author-link=Bob Dotson |first=Bob |title=American story : a lifetime search for ordinary people doing extraordinary things |chapter=Chapter Five: Stories Hiding in History's Shadow |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cuKkG0NfCMgC&q=%22Alfred+Preis%22+jewish&pg=PT66 |publisher=Viking Press |location=New York, NY |year=2013 |isbn=9780670026050 |oclc=830115403 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/americanstorylif0000dots_l7e4 }}</ref><ref name="Fung AssociatesFung Associates">{{cite web |url=http://www.historichawaii.org/n_02/modernism/HIModContextStudy_Nov2011_04.pdf |title=Hawaii Modernism Context Study |author=Fung Associates, Inc. |website=funghawaii.com |location=Honolulu, HI |pages=4–128 (130) |date=November 2011 |access-date=2013-10-28 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314071221/http://www.historichawaii.org/n_02/modernism/HIModContextStudy_Nov2011_04.pdf |archive-date=2012-03-14 }}</ref><ref name="Langmead">{{cite book |last=Langmead |first=Donald |title=Icons of American architecture from the Alamo to the World Trade Center |chapter=USS Arizona Memorial, Pearl Harbor, Honolulu, Hawaii |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OTh8b2cyGBcC&q=%22Alfred+Preis+%281911-1993%29%22&pg=PA465 |publisher=Greenwood Press |location=Westport, CT |year=2009 |isbn=9780313342080 |oclc=317950915 |access-date=2013-10-28}}</ref>{{rp|465–467}}
==In Honolulu== thumb|center|375px|USS ''Arizona'' Memorial is bathed by the lights of ‘Aiea on the evening of the 62nd anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 2003.
===Internment=== He eventually settled in Honolulu, Hawaii, where he was detained for three months at the Sand Island Detainment Camp in Hawaii after the December 7, 1941, attack as part of the internment policy of Japanese and German Americans.
===Career=== After his release from internment, Preis worked at the Hawaii Territorial Department of Public Works and later opened his own office.<ref name="hibbard1">{{cite book |last1=Hibbard |first1=Don J. |title=Buildings of Hawaii |date=2011 |publisher=University of Virginia Press |isbn=978-0-8139-3094-7 |pages=182–183}}</ref>
Preis designed several landmark buildings in Honolulu, including the entrance to the Honolulu Zoo, but is best known for the USS Arizona Memorial. His design for the memorial was selected from those of several other architects. The Navy stipulated that the memorial was supposed to resemble a bridge, handle 200 people and not touch Arizona herself. The original design included portholes where visitors could see the ship beneath the surface. The Navy vetoed this.
The memorial, which was dedicated by John F. Kennedy on May 30, 1962, was initially criticized for being a "squashed milk carton" because of its sagging center roof design. Preis responded:
{{blockquote|text=Wherein the structure sags in the center but stands strong and vigorous at the ends, expresses initial defeat and ultimate victory....The overall effect is one of serenity. Overtones of sadness have been omitted to permit the individual to contemplate his own personal responses...his innermost feelings.<ref name="Langmead"/>{{rp|462}}<ref name="NPS">{{cite web |url=https://home.nps.gov/perl/learn/historyculture/index.htm |title=History & Culture - World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument |website=nps.gov |publisher=U.S. National Park Service |location=Washington, DC |access-date=2013-10-28}}</ref>}}
The memorial is Oahu's biggest tourist destination with 1.5 million visitors a year.<ref>{{cite web|title=What Makes a Good Memorial? - MSN Encarta <!-- BOT GENERATED TITLE --> |url=http://encarta.msn.com/list_memorial/What_Makes_a_Good_Memorial.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311082718/http://encarta.msn.com/list_memorial/What_Makes_a_Good_Memorial.html |archive-date=2007-03-11 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
===Later years=== Preis went on to become a promoter for arts and culture education in Hawaii. He was the first executive director of the Hawaii State Foundation for Culture and the Arts, serving from 1966 to 1980. During this time he championed a successful effort that, in 1967, made Hawaii the first state to require that one percent of the construction budget for public projects be set aside for public art. Also under Preis' leadership, the HSFCA and the Department of Education established the Artists in the Schools program that provided opportunities for elementary and secondary students in Hawaii schools to work with local professional artists.<ref>{{cite web|title=History|url=http://hawaii.gov/sfca/history.html|publisher=Hawaii State Foundation for Culture and the Arts|access-date=7 December 2011}}</ref><ref name="Kam">{{cite news|title=Collected works: The State Foundation on Culture and the Arts finally secures a permanent home for its public collection|url=http://archives.starbulletin.com/2002/10/07/features/story1.html|first=Nadine|last=Kam|date=2002-10-07|work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin|location=Honolulu, HI|publisher=Dennis Francis|access-date=2013-11-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100809115637/http://archives.starbulletin.com/2002/10/07/features/story1.html|archive-date=2010-08-09 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>[https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/shpd/files/2015/05/HI_Honolulu_ZooEntrance.pdf ''National Register of Historic Places Registration Form''] (PDF) dnlr.hawaii.gov. Retrieved 27 July 2021, p. 8</ref>
Preis' ashes were scattered from the memorial. The Hawaii Arts Alliance presents an award known as the Alfred Preis Honor to an individual who demonstrates a lifetime commitment to arts and arts education in Hawaii.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Alfred Preis Honor|url=http://www.hawaiiartsalliance.org/images/uploads/The_Alfred_Preis_Award.pdf|publisher=Hawaii Arts Alliance|access-date=7 December 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426032025/http://www.hawaiiartsalliance.org/images/uploads/The_Alfred_Preis_Award.pdf|archive-date=2012-04-26|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Preis, Alfred}} Category:1911 births Category:1994 deaths Category:Attack on Pearl Harbor Category:Architects from Vienna Category:20th-century Austrian architects Category:Jewish emigrants from Austria after the Anschluss to the United States Category:Emigrants from Austria after the Anschluss to the United States