Friedrich Sternschein / Frederick Stern Collection

Full description

Frederick Stern (1900–1951), architectural draftsman, educator, interior designer and writer F Frederick Sterne was born Friedrich Sternschein in Linz, Austria the second of three sons of Czech-born Albert and Ida Sternschein (nee Winternitz). After secondary school he claims to have attended the Kunstgewerbeschule in Vienna however there is no surviving record of his attendance. In 1930 at the age of twenty he enrolled at TUWien taking courses in economics and administrative law, and in 1934 his Austrian passport listed Sternschein’s profession as an architect. In 1938, Sternschein left Austraia with his his wife Maria, whom he had married in Vienna in 1933, and they migrated via England to Australia arriving in Melbourne in 1938. On arrival Frederick abbreviated his name to Sterne and entered the architecture office of Leighton Irwin working as an architectural draughtsman until the end of the War. In 1944 he sought naturalization and became an Australian citizen. In 1946 he collaborated with journalist Mary Jane Seymour of the Australian Home Beautiful on a series of articles on modern interior design and a year later began lecturing part-time at the Melbourne Technical College (MTC) in architecture, interior design, furniture design and building construction. In 1948 he was employed full-time at the MTC and set about upgrading the three-year Interior Decoration course to Australia's first four-year Interior Design Diploma. Sterne also wrote the Correspondence Course in Interior Design for the College's external students. He died on 28 August 1951. His funeral was held in the Chevra Kadisha Chapel, North Carlton. The collection is arranged in two boxes. The first box comprises 5 issues of Australian Home Beautiful (1946); original black and white photographs of his home featuring his furniture design and textiles by Frances Burke, perspective, plans and diazotypes relating to Blackwood Cottage, Emerald. Melbourne Technical College Interior Design Papers 1-3, and 10 12. Box 2 contains a model of a house.