Adele "Ada" Gomperz

Adele "Ada" GOMPERZ, née STEPNITZ: b. 11 Dec 1884, Wien - d. 14 June 1954, Los Angeles

Information courtesy of various sources, including the following:

Vienna newspapers of the 1910s/20s contain several business ads and other references to Adele/Ada STEPNITZ as "dress designer/Maker" and then with a store specialising in ladies lingerie.

cf. e.g.

ANNO, Wiener Zeitung, 1918-03-20, Seite 26

https://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=wrz&datum=19180320&quer...

And -

ANNO, Neues Wiener Tagblatt (Tages-Ausgabe), 1921-09-16, Seite 4

https://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=nwg&datum=19210916&quer...

And -

Emigrated to the USA with her husband.

Subject: Gomperz - Ancestry.com http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?gl=40&rank=1&new=1&so=3&...

Name: Heinrich Gomperz Spouse: Adele Birth: 18 Jan 1873 - Austria Civil: 7 Apr 1939 - Southern District, Central Division, Los Angeles, California

Adele Wilhelmine Julie Gomperz Spouse: Heinrich Gomperz Birth: 11 Dec 1884 - Austria Civil: 7 Apr 1939 - Southern District, Central Division, Los Angeles, California

Subject: Werkbundsiedlung Wien / Ada Gomperz http://www.werkbundsiedlung-wien.at/de/biografien/ada-gomperz/ Ada (Adele) Gomperz Ada Gomperz (1884–?) studierte 1928–1932 an der Wiener Kunstgewerbeschule bei Oskar Strnad, Carl Witzmann und Oswald Haerdtl. Sie spezialisierte sich bereits früh auf Organisationsabläufe – vor allem im Küchenbereich. In der Wiener Werkbundsiedlung gestaltete sie mit Erich Boltenstern, dessen Mitarbeiterin sie war, die Inneneinrichtung des Hauses Nr. 5 von Hugo Häring, außerdem plante sie die Küchenorganisation im Haus Nr. 33 von Julius Jirasek. 1935 emigrierte sie mit ihrem Mann, dem Philosophen Heinrich Gomperz, in die USA. Dort war sie in den 1940er-Jahren zeitweise Mitarbeiterin der Architektin Liane Zimbler. Ada Gomperz schuf vor allem Inneneinrichtungen für Hotels, Altersheime und Restaurants.

Subject: The Memory Factory: The Forgotten Women Artists of Vienna 1900 - Julie M. Johnson - Google Books http://books.google.de/books?id=8FDPEIQJaQ0C&pg=PA380&lpg=PA380&dq=...

" GOMPERZ Ada (Adèle, née Stepnitz) ... was an interior designer who studied at the School of Applied Arts with Strnad from 1928-32. She specialized in designing interiors for businesses, hotels and restaurants and worked in the field for fifteen years. She married philosopher Heinrich Gomperz in 1917. She emigrated to Los Angeles in 1935 and worked in the studio of architect Liane Zimbler in the 1940s. She committed suicide late in life."

Subject: Wien und der Wiener Kreis: Orte einer unvollendeten Moderne - Google Books http://books.google.de/books?id=jUxCN68Aoa8C&pg=PA90&lpg=PA90&dq=ad...

"Treffpunkt für den sog. Gomperzzirkel (Mitglieder u.a.: Viktor Kraft, Edgar Zilsel, Rudolf Carnap, Herbert Feigl, Hans Hahn, Karl Popper). Adèle Gomperz, geb. Stepnitz, war Innenarchitektin, Studium bei Strnad, Mitarbeit bei Erich Bolternstern, sie arbeitete gleichzeitig, wie Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, an standardisierten Einbauküchen, aber für bürgerlichen Kunden Auftraggeber. ..." (Objekt # 226, 1120 Wien, Grünbergstraße 25.)

Ada Gomperz was clearly a good friend of Erny Walk (cf. her respective profile). In our family Walk/Wengraf & Co. files of historical correspondence there are two very affectionate notes dating from the era of exile post-1938 ... (pip)

 LETTERS FROM ADA GOMPERZ: 1939.07.00 - Ada in Oregon to Erny in London 1940.10.21 - Ada in LA***  to Erny in London  (***Address: 3919 1/2 Dalton Ave. formerly living at 1114 1/2 Browning Boulevard)

(pip)

Also note a post-war newspaper article concerning the vast book library of Heinrich GOMPERZ. This had, evidently, been left behind in Vienna when the couple fled to the USA, was subsequently "sold" to the University of Southern California who notified the German authorities that it should, therefore, not be "confiscated".. Ultimately, after Heinrich's death, Ada was involved in the restitution of this.

cf.

ANNO, Wiener Kurier, 1949-11-15, Seite 2

https://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=wku&datum=19491115&quer...

Grave https://de.findagrave.com/memorial/154971162/adele-wilhelmine_julie...

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9BY-NSSL-9?cc=191...

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QG28-27GN