Paul Huldschinsky was the son of industrial magnate Oscar Huldschinsky. He initially worked as an illustrator but went on to make a name for himself as an interior designer in the Weimar Republic. Huldschinsky, who lacked the “fabricated or typecast imagination” (Stefan Grossmann) favoured by other architects of his day, was exceptionally well connected in Berlin's artistic and cultural world and mainly designed the interiors of galleries and villas. Because of his Jewish origins, he was briefly interned in the concentration camp in Sachsenhausen in November 1938. After his release, Huldschinsky and his family emigrated to the USA, where he settled in Santa Monica, west of Los Angeles, and became part of the German-speaking community in exile there. Like many émigrés, Huldschinsky was initially unable to build on his professional success after arriving in the USA; he therefore worked as a set designer for film studios and sold artworks that he had saved from Germany. In 1941, his acquaintance with Thomas Mann secured him a commission to furnish the Mann family’s house in Pacific Palisades. Huldschinsky hoped this would give a boost to his career as an interior designer. However, this never happened. Instead, he made a breakthrough in the film business with his traditional designs oriented on bourgeois architecture and aesthetics. Until his death, he mainly designed sets for historical films and received an Oscar in 1945 for his set for the film “Gaslight”.

(Text by Francis Nenik)

Selected works:

Haus Hulle – München (1915)

Bibliothek des Kunsthändlers Paul Graupe in der Tiergartenstraße 4 in Berlin (1927)

Einrichtung des Thomas-Mann-Hauses in Pacific Palisades (1941/42)

Further reading:

Thomas Blubacher: Paradies in schwerer Zeit. Künstler und Denker im Exil in Pacific Palisades und Umgebung, München 2011, S. 82-83.

Thomas Blubacher: Oscar Huldschinsky und Ann Sommer, in: Melissa Müller / Monika Tatzkow: Verlorene Bilder – verlorene Leben. Jüdische Sammler und was aus ihren Kunstwerken wurde, München 2008, S. 143-153.

Stefan Großmann: Einleitung, in: Paul Huldschinsky, Berlin/Leipzig/Wien 1930.

Francis Nenik / Sebastian Stumpf: Seven Palms. Das Thomas-Mann-Haus in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, Leipzig 2018.

Kuno Mittenzwey: Zum Haus Hulle – München, von den Architekten Paul Huldschinsky und Karl Joh. Mossner, in: Inndekoration, 26. Jahrgang, Heft 12, Dezember 1915, S. 426-450.