Elmar Lohk

Elmar Lohk (june 15, 1901 in Vladivostok, Russia – february 11, 1963 in Göteborg, Sweden) was an Estonian architect. After spending his childhood in his birthplace and in Shanghai, he moved to Darmstadt in 1921, where he graduated from the Darmstadt University of Technology in 1925. After graduation he worked in Tallinn until 1943. He was among the main architects of Tallinn from 1928 to 1940. In 1934 he created his own architecture bureau.

In 1943 Lohk went to Finland to work at the bureau of Alvar Aalto. Soon, in 1944, he again moved, this time to Göteborg, Sweden. There, he designed many hospitals and created a bureau in 1960.

Many of his buildings in Tallinn are now valued as great examples of 1930s architecture, for example the prominent Scandic Hotel Palace on Freedom Square. His creation can be catecorised as functionalism with some influence of art deco, Chicago school and traditional art.

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