Otto Koloman Wagner (German: [ˈɔto ˈkoːloman ˈvaːɡnɐ] ⓘ; 13 July 1841 – 11 April 1918) was an Austrian architect, furniture designer and urban planner.

Many of his works are found in his native city of Vienna, and illustrate the rapid evolution of architecture during the period.

Beginning in 1898, with his designs of Vienna Metro stations, his style became floral and Art Nouveau, with decoration by Koloman Moser.

He was the son of Suzanne (née von Helffenstorffer-Hueber) and Rudolf Simeon Wagner, a notary to the Royal Hungarian Court.

The first part of his career was devoted to the transformation of that boulevard into a showcase of neo-Gothic, neo-Renassiance, and neoclassical styles.

In 1882 he designed a luxury apartment building on Stadiongasse in Vienna, close to the Parliament and the city hall.

The facade was inspired by the Renaissance, but the interior was designed to be highly practical, luxurious, and constructed with the highest quality materials available.

The visitor passed through a circular vestibule, then turned at an angle into multi-storied semi-circular central hall with a glass skylight, where the banking function was located.

[11] The following project, in 1886, was the first Villa Wagner, a country house he built for himself on the edge of the Vienna woods.

The principal facade had a double stairway ascending to a portico with a colonnade, which was the entrance to the grand salon.

One of the pergolas was transformed from a winter garden into a billiards room, illuminated by floral stained glass windows, one designed by the painter Adolf Michael Boehm.

This building, completed in 1894, combined apartments on the upper floors, and stores on the street level, bearing large display windows.

[13] Wagner always fought against the idea of historicism which helped Vienna of that time to sway over and come up to its notable architectural achievement, the Ringstrasse Boulevard.

In April 1894, Wagner was named artistic counselor for the new Stadtbahn and gradually was given responsibility for the design of the bridges, viaducts, and stations, including the elevators, signs, lighting, and decoration.

Working within these requirements, Wagner designed stations and other structures which combined utility, simplicity and elegance.

In 1896 he published a textbook entitled Modern Architecture in which he expressed his ideas about the role of the architect; it was based on the text of his 1894 inaugural lecture to the Academy.

In his textbook, he stated that "new human tasks and views called for a change or reconstitution of existing forms".

The application here and there of all the previous styles, as we have seen in the last few decades, cannot be the future of architecture...The realism of our time must be present in every newborn work of art.

Its founding members included Gustav Klimt, its first President, Joseph Maria Olbrich, Josef Hoffmann, and Koloman Moser.

[20][failed verification] Wagner had a strong influence on his pupils at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna.

This "Wagner School"[6] included Josef Hoffmann, Joseph Maria Olbrich, Karl Ehn, Jože Plečnik, and Max Fabiani.

Its facade is entirely covered with majolica, or glazed earthenware tiles in the colorful floral designs which characterized the early Vienna Secession.

The Art Nouveau floral design of its facade was made by his student Alois Ludwig [de].

The roof, visible from far away, features several sculpted heads, called The Criers, or The Crying Women by Othmar Schimkowitz.

Wagner had earlier written an academic study entitled The Modern style in Church construction and this was his opportunity to use his ideas in a building.

The main feature of the church is a dome, and the facade was covered with marble plaques two centimeters thick, fixed with copper-headed bolts.

The large stained glass windows were designed by Wagner's frequent collaborator, Koloman Moser.

He tried new materials, such as aluminum, which he used in the decoration of the entrance of the dispatch office the Die Zeit newspaper in Vienna.

He continued to produce new editions of his book Modern Architecture, and three volumes entitled Sketches, Projects, Constructions.

The building had a very modern white plaster facade with very discreet geometric decoration of blue ceramics (Döblergasse) and pieces of black glass (Neustifgasse).