Exiled in L.A.: The Untold Story of Leopold Fischer’s Domestic Architecture is the first English-language volume to explore the work of architect Leopold Fischer and the inaugural study of his California legacy. This richly researched book brings long-overdue attention to an architect whose contributions quietly shaped Southern California’s domestic architecture after his exile from Nazi Germany in 1936.

Arriving in Los Angeles during a period of rapid architectural experimentation, Fischer produced a small but distinctive body of residential work. Although he shared formative ties with more widely studied contemporaries such as Rudolph Schindler and Richard Neutra, including studies under modernist architect Adolf Loos, Fischer’s California buildings have largely escaped the attention of architectural history.

With Fischer’s archives currently lost, architectural historian Volker M. Welter reconstructs his California practice through careful comparison with Fischer’s pre-exile projects in Germany and the work of fellow architects in Southern California. The book traces how Fischer’s experimental working-class housing of the 1920s, which pioneered ecological construction and progressive living practices, informed his later domestic designs centered on the organization and functioning of the home.

Featuring new photography and detailed architectural plans, this volume is an original contribution to the literature on Southern California’s built heritage. It is an essential resource for architects, historians, and design enthusiasts interested in the overlooked figures of modern architecture.

Product Details

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Publisher: Getty Research Institute
• Release Date: October 2025
• Length: 168 pages
• ISBN13: 9781606069868
• Weight: 2.45 lbs
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 9.7" x 10.2"