Albin Müller
1871–1941 · German architect and designer of the Darmstadt Artists' Colony
Albin Müller (Albin Camillo Müller, 1871-1941) was a German architect and designer active mainly in Darmstadt, where he joined the Artists' Colony on the Mathildenhöhe in 1906. After Joseph Maria Olbrich died in 1908, he became the colony's lead architect. He matters as one of the core figures who shaped German Modernism in architecture and the applied arts.
In 1907 he was appointed professor and taught applied arts until 1911. In 1918, together with Kasimir Edschmid, he became president of the newly founded Art Council in Darmstadt. In 1926 he was named architect of the German Theatre Exhibition in Magdeburg, and around 1934 he turned to landscape painting, which he combined with writing.
His works include the garden pavilion at the Dresden exhibition of 1906, the Emmelius villa in Bad Godesberg, the Winnar villa in Ústí nad Labem, the Barner sanatorium in Braunlage and the Oppenheimer house in Darmstadt. He also designed the Löwentor in Darmstadt and, with the sculptor Walter Kieser, the Boelcke memorial in Dessau. Many of his buildings have been lost, which makes it hard to assess his full output today.