Editing Walter Gropius (section)

=== Early career (1908–1914) ===
In 1908, after studying architecture in [[Munich]] and Berlin for four semesters, Gropius joined the office of the architect and industrial designer [[Peter Behrens]], one of the first members of the utilitarian school.<ref name="bauhaus-online.de">[http://bauhaus-online.de/en/atlas/personen/ise-gropius-frank "Ise Gropius (-Frank)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140408225329/http://bauhaus-online.de/en/atlas/personen/ise-gropius-frank |date=8 April 2014 }}. bauhaus-online.de.</ref> His fellow employees at this time included [[Ludwig Mies van der Rohe]], [[Le Corbusier]], and Dietrich Marcks.

Gropius left the firm of Behrens in 1910 and established a practice in Berlin with fellow employee [[Adolf Meyer (architect)|Adolf Meyer]]. Together they share credit for one of the pioneering modernist buildings created during this period: the [[Fagus Factory|Faguswerk]] in [[Alfeld (Leine)|Alfeld-an-der-Leine, Germany]], a shoe [[last]] factory. Although Gropius and Meyer only designed the facade, the glass curtain walls of this building demonstrated both the modernist principle that [[Form follows function|form reflects function]] and Gropius's concern with providing healthful conditions for the working class.

The factory is now regarded as one of the crucial founding monuments of European modernism. Gropius was commissioned in 1913 to design a car for the Prussian Railroad Locomotive Works in [[Königsberg]]. This locomotive was unique and the first of its kind in Germany and perhaps in Europe.<ref>Isaacs, pp. 25 and 29</ref>

Other works of this early period include the office and factory building for the [[Werkbund Exhibition (1914)]] in [[Cologne]].

Gropius published an article about "The Development of Industrial Buildings" in 1913, which included about a dozen photographs of factories and [[grain elevators]] in North America. A very influential text, this article had a strong influence on other European modernists, including Le Corbusier and [[Erich Mendelsohn]], both of whom reprinted Gropius's grain elevator pictures between 1920 and 1930.<ref name="American Colossus">[http://www.american-colossus.com/ American Colossus: the Grain Elevator 1843–1943] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091102080038/http://www.american-colossus.com/ |date=2 November 2009 }}, Colossus Books,
2009. american-colossus.com</ref>

Gropius's career was interrupted by the outbreak of [[World War I]] in 1914. He was drafted in August 1914 and served as a sergeant major at the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western front]] during the war years (getting wounded and almost killed)<ref name="beeb">{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/audiointerviews/profilepages/gropiusw1.shtml|title=Walter Adolph Gropius 1883 – 1969|publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061104131501/http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/audiointerviews/profilepages/gropiusw1.shtml|archive-date=4 November 2006|url-status=dead|access-date=2 August 2006}}</ref> and then as a lieutenant in the [[signal corps]].<ref>Isaacs, pp. 38–41</ref> Gropius was awarded the [[Iron Cross]] twice<ref name="http://www.architectural-review.com">Paul Davies (30 April 2013), [http://www.architectural-review.com/reviews/walter-gropius/8646993.article "Walter Gropius"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140501153254/http://www.architectural-review.com/reviews/walter-gropius/8646993.article |date=1 May 2014 }}. ''Architectural Review''.</ref> ("when it still meant something," he confided to his friend Chester Nagel) after fighting for four years.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Ireland |first1=Corydon |date=19 March 2014 |title=Ties to the past |url=http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2014/03/ties-to-the-past/ |website=Harvard Gazette |language=en-US |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231217112425/https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2014/03/ties-to-the-past/ |archive-date= 17 December 2023 }}</ref> Gropius then, like his father and his great-uncle Martin Gropius before him, became an architect.