Erich Mendelsohn b. East Prussia 1887 d. San Francisco 1953. He studied in Berlin and Munich where he became involved with expressionism. These early experiences generated a personal philosophy of 'dynamism' that demonstrated an attitude that was both expressionistic and personal in nature. Mendelsohn did not rely on historical precedent as did so many of his contemporaries. Initially his architecture was derived from expressionistic sketches and romantic symbolism which recognised that the qualities of modern building materials should dictate a new architecture. [Einstein Observatory Potsdam 1920]. After the Einstein Tower he quickly established a very prolific domestic and commercial practice in Berlin until 1933 in which he utilized mostly a form of streamined modernism which has allowed him to be claimed as a precursor for Art Deco. In 1933 emigrated to England to work in partnership with Serge Chermayeff [De La Warr Pavillion 1934]. During this period he also had many commisions in Palestine in which his lyrical expressionism began to re-emerge. In 1941 emigrated to the U.S.A. where he re-commenced practice in San Francisco in 1945. His American work has been characteried by Bruno Zevi as "Affluent Expressionism" and certainly it began to take on a distinctly Contemporary character.

Denis Sharp : The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Architects and Architecture. New York Quatro Publishing, 1991. ISBN 0-8230-2539-X. NA40.145. p106-107

Although a major twentieth century architect and among the group of European emigré architects to settle in the U.S.A. prior to or during World War II. Mendelsohn, unlike Breuer and Neutra did not seem to have had much direct influence on post war Australian architecture. This is possibly because he died of lung cancer in 1951. Nevertheless I have included a couple of links giving information on his career.