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PROOF! is a free publication distributed twice a year by Johnston Printing in an effort to bring to light the contributions of area artists. To receive additional copies by mail, or to share comments or a story that you’d like to see in PROOF!, visit proof.johnstonprinting.com. Founded in Spokane in 1947, Johnston Printing is a family- owned, full-service shop offering both offset and digital printing, along with binding and mailing services, for every marketing, promotional, and advertising need.
The name likely won’t ring a bell, either; neither will
“Royal McClure”
Ken Brooks, Bruce Walker, Tom Adkison, and Bill
Trogdon.
For many, Spokane architecture came to a halt sometime around the late 1930s, with the death of Cutter and the magni cent Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist nearing completion. But for these men, it was just beginning.
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Right: A notebook of drawings and exercises from Moritz’s fth-grade class
Far right (left to right): Ida, Moritz, Ulrich, Peter, Magdalena, and August Kundig, photographed around 1950. Photo courtesy of Moritz Kundig.
Cover: Drawing and interior photograph of the Holmlund residence, Spokane, 1964, designed by Moritz Kundig; Kundig photographed inside the Unitarian Universalist Church
of Spokane, July 21, 2010. Holmlund residence photo courtesy of Moritz Kundig; photos of Kundig by Shane Young Photography.
A Modernist Is Born
Born in Winterthur, Switzerland in 1925 to a family that included musicians, teachers, and an accomplished artist, Moritz Kundig showed promise early on. By the time he’d reached kindergarten, he had already learned to read by deciphering store signs. And a rather precocious talent for drawing was evident as early as the fth grade.
As a result, Kundig had no trouble getting accepted to the Gymnasium in Winterthur, the prominent state high school for university-track students where his father taught physical education. What Kundig describes (with typical understatement) as a “broad- based education” included seven years of Latin, six of French, ve of English, and one of Italian, along with German literature, history, math, and sciences.
Kundig completed his compulsory military training after graduating from high school, eventually becoming a rst lieutenant in the Swiss Army. As for college, there was never any question. “I was expected to go,” he says. “My brothers went; my sister went.” Architecture seemed the best way to combine the young man’s rationality with his artistic aptitude, so Kundig enrolled at the Eidgenössische
“I was always good at just about anything,” he recalls. “Not the best, maybe, but I didn’t have many weak
points. And that meant I could go in any direction.”