Antonin Nechodoma was born in
Prague,
Bohemia,
Austria-Hungary in 1877. In 1887, Nechodoma's family emigrated to
Chicago where he worked as a contractor. In 1905, Nechodoma, already an architect, arrived in Puerto Rico after working for a short period in Florida. In Puerto Rico (1905–1928), Nechodoma became one of the most prominent architects in the Caribbean. His work included private and public buildings: banks, schools, markets, churches and houses. His practice extended to the Dominican Republic where he built the main 'glorieta' in the Parque Independencia in Santo Domingo and the Market in San Pedro de Macoris. Nechodoma's architectural style varied widely, from
Neoclassical style for public school buildings, Gothic and Mission Style for his churches, and Prairie Style in his houses. There was some controversy surrounding his plagiarism of
Frank Lloyd Wright's residential work. Architectural historians
Jorge Rigau, Enrique Vivoni Farage, and Nechodoma's biographer, Thomas Marvel discussed Nechodoma's direct use of Wright's Wasmuth Portfolio as a reference for his residential work in Puerto Rico. Despite the controversy, Nechodoma made significant contributions to the architecture of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. His integration of arts and crafts motifs to his architecture, ranging from furniture design, ironwork, stained glass, and mosaics, had an enormous influence in the Caribbean architecture of the early 20th century. His prolific production left a wealth of first class public buildings in both the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, notable because of their technical innovations and their contribution toward forming a language of tropical architecture in the Caribbean. Nechodoma's work was published extensively during his lifetime. He also published in 1927 an important article on architecture in Puerto Rico entitled "Concerning Architecture in Puerto Rico". Nechodoma died in a
car crash in 1928. ==Notable works==