Otto Dreyer
Dreyer began his studies at ETH Zurich in 1914 and obtained his diploma in 1919. In parallel, from 1914 to 1918, he completed his military service, finishing as an artillery officer. Over the following two years, he expanded his knowledge in Berlin under Bruno Möhring, then spent a year in Paris with Jean Pelée de Saint-Maurice, and undertook study trips to Italy.
Otto Dreyer

Sanblatt · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Born
- 1897 · Lucerne.
- Died
- 1972 · Lucerne.
- Nationality
- Switzerland
- Occupation
- architect
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Dreyer began his studies at ETH Zurich in 1914 and obtained his diploma in 1919. In parallel, from 1914 to 1918, he completed his military service, finishing as an artillery officer. Over the following two years, he expanded his knowledge in Berlin under Bruno Möhring, then spent a year in Paris with Jean Pelée de Saint-Maurice, and undertook study trips to Italy.
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In this article
Biography
Biography
Upon returning to Lucerne, he worked as an assistant at Armin Meili's firm from 1924 to 1927 before establishing his own office. In 1958, he partnered with Hans Käppeli, who continued to run the office after Dreyer's death. Dreyer worked in church architecture. Luke Society for Art and Church, he constructed a total of nine churches and chapels. His first work in 1924 was a design for a concrete church exhibited in Basel. He won third place in the Switzerland-wide competition for the parish church of St. He then built the Catholic church of St. Theodul in Littau (1938) and, one of his major works, St. Josef in Lucerne's Maihof district (1940). During the Second World War, he built the Catholic church Guthirt in Aarburg (1941–1942) and in the 1950s the Bruderklauskirche in Kriens (1952–1953). His main work is the Lucerne Central Library, originally designed for a building site next to the Jesuit Church, the current location in the Hirschmatt quarter was found after a petition to keep the side façade free. Dreyer supported and preserved the municipal collection of old musical instruments in Tribschen, he was on the organising committee of the International Musical Festival Weeks until 1965 and on the working committee of the Lucerne Conservatory.
Dreyer began his studies at ETH Zurich in 1914 and obtained his diploma in 1919. In parallel, from 1914 to 1918, he completed his military service, finishing as an artillery officer. Over the following two years, he expanded his knowledge in Berlin under Bruno Möhring, then spent a year in Paris with Jean Pelée de Saint-Maurice, and undertook study trips to Italy. Upon returning to Lucerne, he worked as an assistant at Armin Meili's firm from 1924 to 1927 before establishing his own office. In 1958, he partnered with Hans Käppeli, who continued to run the office after Dreyer's death. Dreyer worked in church architecture. As a founding member of the Swiss St. Luke Society for Art and Church, he constructed a total of nine churches and chapels. His first work in 1924 was a design for a concrete church exhibited in Basel. He won third place in the Switzerland-wide competition for the parish church of St. Karl. He then built the Catholic church of St. Theodul in Littau (1938) and, one of his major works, St. Josef in Lucerne's Maihof district (1940). During the Second World War, he built the Catholic church Guthirt in Aarburg (1941–1942) and in the 1950s the Bruderklauskirche in Kriens (1952–1953). His main work is the Lucerne Central Library, originally designed for a building site next to the Jesuit Church, the current location in the Hirschmatt quarter was found after a petition to keep the side façade free. Dreyer supported and preserved the municipal collection of old musical instruments in Tribschen, he was on the organising committee of the International Musical Festival Weeks until 1965 and on the working committee of the Lucerne Conservatory.
Selected works
Selected works
• Stocker-Dreyer House, Lucerne, 1928 • Martha Flüeler-Häfeli House, Lucerne, 1928 • Labhart House, Lucerne, 1929 • Paulusheim, Lucerne, 1933 • St. Theodul, Catholic Church, Littau (now Lucerne), 1938–1939 • Otto Dreyer House, St. Niklausen (now Horw), 1939 • Landi-Hotel Swiss National Exhibition, Zurich, 1939 (demolished) • St. Josef, Catholic Church, Lucerne, 1940 • Guthirt, Catholic Church, Aarburg, 1941–1942 • Central Library, Lucerne, 1951 • Bruderklaus Church, Kriens, 1952–1953 • Main Building, Swiss Museum of Transport, 1st Phase, 1959 (with Hans Käppeli)
Works and production
Works and production
The following works and productions are recorded by name or by count.
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Otto Dreyer”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority file
- Gemeinsame Normdatei 107297164X, Otto Dreyer (Berlin).
General reference · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q2038529: Otto Dreyer
General reference · Wikidata
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Linus Birchler: Kirchenkunst in der katholischen Schweiz. In: Das Werk, B. 15 (1928) Heft 12 S. 388–390,
- 2.Vgl. Linus Birchler: Betonkirchen. In: Das Werk, B. 13 (1926) Heft 1 S. 20–26,
- 3.Ergebnis in Werk Bb. 17 (1931) S. XXIII
- 4.Christa Zeller: Schweizer Architekturführer ; Band 1: Nordost- und Zentralschweiz. Zürich: Werk Verlag 1996. S. 263. ISBN 3-909145-11-6
- 5.Fabrizio Brentini: Otto Dreyer. In: Isabelle Rucki und Dorothee Huber (Hg): Architektenlexikon der Schweiz – 19./20. Jahrhundert S. 149
References
Citations
References
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reference work
Secondary witnessauthority file
Gemeinsame Normdatei 107297164X, Otto Dreyer (Berlin).Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Secondary witnessauthority record
General reference
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
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