Alfred Preis

The Dahl and Conrad Years (1939-1941)

Many projects came across Alfred Preis’s desk in his first years at Dahl & Conrad. At first it was mostly interiors, but later, as a full associate of the firm, he rendered buildings and houses in a hand that evidenced his full responsibility for their designs. Among these few were the Rofran’s shoe store where he was mentioned as the designer. Further projects were the Miss Ruth Anderson apartment hotel, which carried some of the initial sensibilities that would recur in his later work.

A retail building for Annie Lan Nyuk Chang from 1941 is verified through his own anecdotes. From an interview, we know that he designed this building and claimed to have mistranslated some of the metric dimensions into the imperial system. It was a rounded building, emerald green in color, and showed a tightness of composition derived from Viennese modernism.

The 320 Lewer Street Complex for Miss Geneva Miller was likely designed around 1940, prior to his arrival, though the Floy Mercer display and its interior showed Preis’s signature moves and sensibilities.

Another apartment complex, the Mr. & Mrs. L.E. Bostwick duplexes from 1941, also incorporated some of Preis’s later signature strokes. It had an indoor/outdoor living style, and volumes that were modularly broken down with a European modernist aesthetic. This building’s language was in strong contrast to Dahl & Conrad’s more fluid streamline moderne forms. The L. R. Andrews residence was among the many residences Alfred Preis would design for Dahl & Conrad. The use of wood and horizontal window system showed the origins of Preis’s interest in materials systems. Another significant project, the University of Hawai‘i student housing project (1941), evidences Preis’s authorship. It was carefully structured with a broken up façade, varied materiality, and cantilevered open roofs. But it is unclear if the project was ever built.

Soon after Alfred Preis was interned at the Sand Island detention camp in the wake of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the office of Dahl & Conrad closed for good.